Headcase
by Maxine101
Summary: <html><head></head>Kakashi became Hokage after the Pein attack. Sasuke was captured and is awaiting his trial. And Iruka has an occasional female visitor who he has never seen, but seems to have taken up a part-time residence in his head. AU, OC, Yaoi</html>
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

The young woman stared at the dragon seated opposite her on the intricate wooden floor of her stage room. Had she been a third party observer she probably would have laughed her ass off: her mouth was gaping open as she stared at a geezer who looked like Dumbledore from those stupid Harry Potter movies. He was older (probably centuries old, but she'd never asked) with an air of timelessness about his features with extremely long snow-white hair and beard that hung to below his waist.

"You have got to be joking," the woman said.

The man looked endlessly amused. "I'm not."

Clearly he wasn't, but that didn't stop the girl from turning pink in the face as he unintentionally rubbed salt in her metaphorical wound. "What do you mean that I'll only ever be good at this in bed?" she demanded.

The man sighed and took pity on the poor woman. She was, after all, his best (and currently only) pupil, surprisingly enough. It was hard to believe she was such a good listener who made certain to obey every time he made a correction on her technique or thought process when attending his lessons. Who would have guessed that she was self-taught, with only inept instructors up until now?

"You insignificant Ape," he said in his proudest tone, "do you know what your mind does as you sleep?"

True to her Self, the woman nodded her head and replied: "The conscious mind turns off while your subconscious mind filters and files what you have experienced during the day. The things it deems necessary for future use are stored in your long-term memory while the things that are unnecessary are lost. Then, once it finishes it reaches REM and… oh, I see."

It wasn't that Ag-Coern wasn't proud of his student for figuring it out, but the homely little girl could be glaringly obtuse sometimes, although he was loathed to admit that those times usually occurred when she was dealing with the love interests of her nearest and dearest. Either way, he demanded that she explain her thoughts for pity's sake, and quickly please. He was overbooked as it was.

"Since our souls walk the void between this reality and the others to bear witness to another's' moments," she said, "I will be able to learn to find this corridor during my waking hours if I keep my conscious mind partially awake while my soul makes the trek. Then, once I've mapped the path, I will be able to find my way out of my body and into another dimension at will and ad nausium."

Ag-Coern nodded the affirmative, proud that she had understood his intent so easily. She was, after all, a genius considering the stagnation in her lineage.

Then she opened her mouth, and made him grind his teeth at her insufferable knack at finding the flaw in his plans. "But Aggie, this is going to take forever! I only sleep for a couple of hours once every few days. I can't keep myself too far awake or else I would never reach REM and the exercise would be for nothing!"

Damn blasted fool. To think: he took the time out of his busy life to train her to use her unique ability of his own free will. He hadn't had to offer his tutelage! She hadn't had… well; he'd really left her no choice. He'd been afraid that she would refuse the lessons on principle, not having realized that she was actually hoping for someone to take her under his wing to truly train her. She hadn't refused, but now that he had gotten to know her he realized that she would have quickly accepted his offer had he truly made it an _offer_.

Unfortunately, this was one of her obtuse moments. Just because she always bent her busy schedule around her students did not mean he did. He had some important functions coming up back at the castle, and Y'Selle, his darling beautiful wife, refused to let him off the hook, even if it was to train her Bonded One's beloved.

"Well, then it's going to take a long time!" he snapped at the stupid human before him. "I will return periodically to check your progress."

The woman opened her mouth to argue, but before she had the chance to utter a single note he translocated himself back to his castle. She was more than he could deal with most days, and he knew the feeling was completely mutual. What had they chosen each other to bond with again? Oh, right. Their magic demanded it of them. Damn and Blast.

Tez, the woman, sat staring at the recently vacated spot in space for half a breath before heaving a sigh and standing up. Her legs were a little stiff from sitting in the meditation pose for so long, but a few quick stretches worked the kinks out quickly. Then she left the huge, subtly decorated room by the enormous double doors located opposite the intricate stage. Tiredly she turned toward the stairs and went to begin the four story climb to her room.

Oh, wait. She couldn't go there. That Man was still living there. So she translocated back to her apartment, straight into her bedroom, and collapsed on the bed.

"How the hell do you make yourself fall asleep?" she wondered aloud into her pillow. Sleeping wasn't something she was good at under the best circumstances (best circumstances being when she was completely overwrought and exhausted) let alone when she knew she was supposed to.

Well, this time it didn't matter. She hadn't slept for several long and trying days, so he was _tired_. Quickly, before she drifted off, she cast a quick spell on herself to keep herself partly awake. Normally this spell was used when a person wanted to keep a touch of alertness as they slept, like if they had a sick child and needed their rest but wanted to be roused the instant they were needed or if they thought their life was in danger but needed to sleep. She hoped it was enough that when her soul slipped away her consciousness would fully awaken on the other side of the void – in an alternate reality.


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter One_

Iruka sighed as he headed home from the missions office late in the evening. Overall it had been a pretty rotten day. His students at the academy had been particularly rowdy and uncooperative earlier, and the Jounins who had come bearing mission reports had all been especially needy and rebellious. No one could concentrate, and Iruka completely understood where they were coming from.

He still felt her death. Everyone did. After Lady Tsunade passed everyone was very docile, as to be expected during the mourning process. Now, since over a month had gone by since her passing, everyone was returning to their normal routines. The healing had begun after a new Hokage had been chosen and began his new job, but now the ninjas were in the process of adjusting to the new regime, and Iruka was the one who had to deal with the fallout, more often than not.

It wasn't that Kakashi was a bad Hokage. In fact, he was surprisingly good at the job. It was just… sometimes he was an epic failure. He was still ridiculously late for important meetings, paperwork was usually messier than a pre-genin's homework, and the bastard still insisted on reading his porn wherever he wished. However, he made good decisions concerning the village and his ability to multitask seemed unparalleled, not to mention people liked him. Things were getting done, just not in the traditional method.

Of course, Iruka knew of all of the new Hokage's little quirks and faux pas. He was, after all, one of his three assistants. Since Pein had destroyed a majority of the city with his attack several months ago and killed a large number of their already low personnel, most of the Chunin in clerical positions were taking on double and triple shifts so that the village and its infrastructure could continue running smoothly. Consequently, the Hokage got three part-time assistants instead of one full time employee.

Tiredly, Iruka pulled the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door of his new apartment. It looked exactly like his old apartment since it had been reconstructed based on the old floor plan, but everything looked new. Too new. And it smelled like the inside of a hardware store. To the casual observer his apartment had only changed in a few small ways, but the complete newness of everything, including his furniture and plants, made his home feel like a hotel. Although, truth be told, he supposed his long days out working on behalf of the village and only sleeping in the apartment for a few hours maintained the illusion.

He took off his shoes lazily in the entryway and stumbled over to the couch, collapsing onto it with open exhaustion. He was glad to be home, even if it didn't feel as such. There were only so many hours in a day and he luxuriated in the few of them he got to sleep in.

Although, he really needed to eat something. Lunch had been about twelve hours prior, and he had missed dinner because those damn Jounins had kicked up a fuss and almost started a riot at the missions' desk. That would cut into his precious sleep time, though, and he couldn't afford that. The next day was going to be just as long as this one, but instead of going to the missions' desk he was going to assist the Hokage. Hatake Kakashi was many things, but he did not allow anyone to slack off. Apparently Kakashi was the only one with those rights.

"_Well if you're so tired, then go to sleep,"_ said a voice in Iruka's head. It was simple evidence of his exhaustion that it took the tired man several seconds before he realized that the statement had not been in his voice. He always thought in a masculine voice that was just a little nicer than his real one, but this one had been high-pitched. Female.

"_What?"_ he thought. He rubbed at his head before trying to stand and lethargically moved toward his kitchen. If he was hallucinating, he really needed to eat something. Maybe the food would help him gain some much-needed internal balance.

"_Dude, if you're this exhausted, you need to lie down. You can barely stand!"_ the voice in his head said again. Iruka felt the unfolding of wings in his mind – an altogether strange sensation – and felt energy drain into his chakra pathways. The power burned for a moment, and then the signature changed to his chakra pattern and settled into its natural flow within his body. The amount of power he gained was small, almost infinitesimal, but just enough that he no longer felt like an overcooked noodle.

Naturally, this freaked out the poor teacher. He took a step back and looked around, but his apartment was empty. "Who's there?" he called out, the exhaustion he felt still coloring his voice.

"_I'm here,"_ the voice said inside his head. _"I'm just not out there where you can see me."_

"_Then where are you?"_ Iruka thought to himself. He jumped when he heard a response.

"_I'm in your head, occupying your body. When you think, I hear it as if you're talking to me."_

Oh, no. No! He was not hearing voices! This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. Kami, he must be more tired than he thought if his head was telling him he needed sleep, right? Right?

"_Hey, calm down… um… what's your name?" _ the voice asked in a gentle tone. She really had a nice voice. It sounded like a soft soprano that a nice person would use. Why not listen to it? He was tired. He knew he needed rest. If he was still hallucinating tomorrow, then he could go to the hospital and see one of the psych counselors for a consultation. They were used to dealing with ninja trauma patients, and auditory hallucinations were not entirely uncommon among shinobi suffering from stress and overwork after a traumatic event. He'd have time between the academy and the Hokage shifts.

But he could feel the impatience of the voice in his head as he thought about his plans for the next day. It was almost as if another person really was taking up residence in his head. He got the feeling that if the voice were a real person, she would be waiting for him with her arms crossed and her toes tapping against the floor. So he replied, _"I'm Umino Iruka."_

With the thought he realized that he was just standing there by his kitchen counter doing nothing. Absently he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, taking out one of the many meals he had made on his day off and using a small jutsu his old academy teacher had taught him just after he'd become Chunin to heat it up. He felt his psychosis watching him through his eyes, noticing what he was doing and thinking about it.

"_What?"_ he demanded, irritated at the feeling of someone watching over his shoulder – or through his own eyes.

"_Nothing really. I'm just surprised you're accepting my presence so easily. Honestly, I was expecting more of a freak out… or at least a small barrage of questions."_ She sounded amused. _"That spell you cast was pretty interesting, too. Do the people of your reality usually use hand signs to activate your powers?"_

Iruka sighed. Leave it to his hallucination to make him explain about chakra and the shinobi way. Of course his hallucination would know nothing about his way of life. Naturally, his hallucination would be the curious sort to make him think and talk while he was exhausted. His life was just like that.

"_It wasn't a spell,"_ is what he thought at his hallucination. _"It was a jutsu, which is what happens when I activate my chakra by using a hand sign and intent. I'm a ninja: it's what I do."_

"_It's kind of like what I do,"_ the voice said seriously. _"On my world I'm a mage. We may call it magic, but basically we use chakra as well. I'm just the type of mage who doesn't need to use hand signs or rituals to activate my spells. Um… I didn't introduce myself, did I?"_

Iruka sighed. _"No, you didn't."_

"_Ah, well, you can call me Tez. It's a pleasure to meet you, Iruka-san."_

"_Well, it's terrible meeting you,"_ Iruka snapped back. He started shoveling food in his mouth with the intent to get to bed faster. He really needed some rest. Sleep would shut the hallucination up, wouldn't it?

"_I'm sure it's horrible for you. I can tell you think you're crazy. Well, you aren't. In fact, I'm only going to be here for a few minutes, until you get yourself into bed. Then I'll be gone and won't return for a couple of days." _

"_Why would you go away and come back?"_ Iruka asked, curious despite himself. What kind of hallucinations made plans for the future? Hallucinations couldn't control when they came or went, could they?

He could feel the voice smile, even though he couldn't see her. _"I'm not really here. This is a spell I cast before I went to sleep. I'm trying to find a way to pass my soul from my dimension into another one, but the way to find the doorway from one reality into an alternate one is to find the portal that is in all of us when we sleep. My body is sleeping comfortably back at home, but I managed to push my consciousness through the void between here and there and landed in your head."_

"_I'm sorry you wound up here,"_ Iruka said dryly. _"Did you intend to enter my mind?"_

He felt her chuckle again, obviously fully aware that his question didn't necessarily mean he believed her. Clearly he was hallucinating. _"I had originally figured that I would come out of the portal in the middle of nowhere as a small bundle of energy with no body, but it makes sense that I found a person whose mind is similar to my own. When we dream our minds drift through the void between dimensions and find other minds like our own. Then we look through their eyes and witness but a moment of their lives. Then, when we leave REM sleep we are called back into our bodies naturally. I was taking advantage of the natural order to further my training and complete the assignment that my sensei assigned to me."_

Well, that made sense… sort of. Now that he thought about it, it was much more likely that some ninja elsewhere in Konaha was practicing a genjutsu a little too close to the village proper and he'd been accidentally caught in it. Unfortunately, he was too drained to release it.

"_Whatever. You need to stop training so close to the village. Get out of my head and go home!"_ Iruka ordered with all of the authority his tired mind could muster. With that he tossed his now-empty food container into the sink and headed into his room, falling onto the bed as he was.

As he drifted off to sleep he felt a door open in the back of his mind and heard the female voice quietly say, _"Sleep well, Umino Iruka-Sensei. I will see you in a few days. Take care."_ Then she was completely gone.


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

For several days after the "incident," as Iruka called it, Iruka's head was silent. Well, not completely silent since his days were hectic as hell and he thought a lot. But he hadn't heard a voice in his head that wasn't his. He had gone to the shrink's office the next day as planned, fat lot of good that did.

Apparently auditory hallucinations are normal in shinobi as over-stressed and exhausted as Iruka had been! It didn't mean anything was wrong, necessarily. It just meant that he needed to back off the long days a little bit, and then remember to eat regularly. The doctor had given him three notes to be used when Iruka felt it was necessary to take time off for his mental stability.

Of course he hadn't used one yet. His days had gone much better over the past few days, mostly because he made sure to take all breaks and meals as required by his body and allowed by his position. He had also made certain to get as much sleep as his ridiculous schedule allowed. Of course, there was nothing he could do about the stress, but he was able to take a little time during his breaks to read (and that Icha Icha Paradise was a surprisingly good book, as he discovered during his lunch hour the previous day).

Needless to say he was quite surprised when he felt a slight rustling in his head, almost as if someone was making noise so as not to startle him when coming into a room from behind. Then he had the strangest feeling that someone was looking out at the world through his eyes for a moment before backing away into his mind.

"_Hello again, Iruka-sensei,"_ the same voice said into his mind.

Iruka dropped the papers in his hands as he froze. His fingers couldn't find the strength to grab, and his hands were shaking in fear. The voice was back! But this time, he was perfectly fine! He was awake! He was working! He was relaxed! He couldn't be hearing the voice again.

"_Dude, you're not hallucinating me,"_ Tez said calmly, almost bored. _"You need to relax!"_

"Oh, no," Iruka breathed.

"Maa, did you say something?" Kakashi asked, looking up from the document he was reading.

"O-oh, Kakashi-sama, I just dropped all my papers," Iruka said with a brief tremor in his voice. He bent down to pick them back up and put them in order. "I think I need to take a little time off. How about we break for dinner?"

Kakashi gave Iruka an appraising look, but after a very tense moment he nodded his head and set his document down on his desk. "Where shall we go to dinner?" he asked. "Ichiraku's?"

Iruka stopped gathering the papers he had dropped and looked up at his Hokage. "Wait, what? We're going out to dinner?"

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, you act as if you don't want to eat with me!" Kakashi said with mild surprise.

"_Oh, what a load of horse shit!"_ Tez said. _"You aren't crazy, but you're acting like it! Tell him something to get off your back!"_

Iruka licked his lips nervously. The voice was right, of course. He was acting strange. The Hokage was just being suspicious in his usual, very casual way. Look at that, he was slowly wandering over to Iruka and glancing down at the papers he had been holding, probably to see what was on them and if they were cause for a freak out. Okay, well, his hallucination didn't seem to be pointing him wrong this time, so….

"You mean you want to eat with me, your assistant?" Iruka asked with his voice barely audible. Then he made his brow furrow in confusion. "You never wanted to do that before."

"Iruka-sensei, are you feeling okay?" Kakashi asked bluntly. True concern showed in his charcoal eye, much to Iruka's astonishment. He noticed that Kakashi's only visible eye was more honest than the rest of him, but he had never really thought paid attention to it until now.

"Actually, I'm not," Iruka said honestly. "I need to eat and get a little time by myself before we can continue."

Kakashi bent down to look Iruka in the eye. His Sharingan was covered, fortunately, but his look was just as searching without it. He held Iruka's gaze for a long moment before he said, "How about we call it a night, eh?"

"Huh?" Iruka asked without thinking. Kakashi stood up and walked back to his desk to put away the documents he had been looking over.

"Iruka, I've noticed that you've been looking tired over the last few weeks. You've been looking more and more haggard as the days have passed. You know, we can always leave early. It isn't like I need to stay past dinnertime anyway."

Now he tells him! They'd only been staying late because there was so much work to do and the other assistant who usually worked before Iruka's shift pretty much sucked. Well, since he had the opportunity, dinner was waiting for him. "Thank you, Kakashi-sama. I will tidy up here."

"Don't bother, Iruka-sensei. If we just put the unread files in a pile and lock the door they'll be here when I come in tomorrow. So, that leaves us with a windfall of time on our hands. Who's up for ramen?" Kakashi said with a smile in his eye. He reached over and took the small stack of papers out of Iruka's hand and briefly looked them over.

Iruka gulped, but held firm. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei, but I have tonight's dinner already made and it would be a waste if I didn't eat it tonight." He felt the snort in his head more than he heard it. Clearly his little bit of crazy thought he was being stupid.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was studying Iruka thoughtfully. Then with a sigh the older man set the cleaned-up stack of papers on the desk and headed for the door. "Well, if you change your mind, I'll be at Ichiraku's with Naruto and Sakura. I'm sure they'd love it if you joined us." With that he walked out, leaving Iruka to lock up.

"_Hey, why won't you take him up on his offer? He's going to give you free food!"_ the voice said the instant they were alone in the room. _"Are these Naruto and Sakura people close friends or something?"_

"_Why are you here this time?"_ Iruka snapped at his personal piece of crazy. _"Shouldn't you be gone since I've been taking care of myself?"_

There was a long pause before, _"Iruka, I'm not a hallucination. This case doesn't present like I'm a hallucination."_

"_Oh, yeah? And how do hallucinations normally start?"_ Iruka demanded as he turned off the lights and headed out the door.

"_Well, there are a few differences between me and a hallucination,"_ the voice said. _"Frequently the voices in your head will sound like they're real people standing right there next to you, or surrounding you. I'm pretty sure I sound the same to you as you do to me – like the voice is coming from inside your head and isn't really a sound."_

Iruka had to agree with that one. _"Well, I suppose you don't sound like a voice exactly,"_ he admitted.

"_Also, the onset of auditory hallucinations is usually a symptom of something else, like paranoid schizophrenia or severe exhaustion. You're energy levels are much higher than last time, you aren't dehydrated or starving, and you haven't once looked over your shoulder to see if someone is coming to get you. And another thing: you noticed right away last time that there was a voice in your head that wasn't yours, and you asked about it. Most people with hallucinations don't even realize when they start hallucinating and simply think that it's part of the every-day."_

That sounded right, too. _"But you gave me advice."_

"_So what? I give everybody advice. I'm nosy, which is why I didn't just leave right after I showed up. Anyway, the final piece of evidence I have that I am not a hallucination is the fact that I do not know everything that you know. A hallucination is just a segment of a person's mind that has… not really gone anywhere, but has maybe… changed? Splintered?"_

"_You don't know?"_ Iruka asked. He had finished locking the door and was now heading down the stairs to start his journey home. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, this conversation, no matter how strange it was, was very interesting. His shrink hadn't told him nearly this much about hallucinations, just that his was probably caused by stress and exhaustion.

"_Nobody knows for sure exactly what happens in a person's head, but the hallucination knows everything that the person would know because they have the same source of information and the same memories, but it has a different perspective on things. For example: I am a psychiatrist at home. Well, I was, but that's a long story. Anyway, I know all about crazy people, psychological illnesses, and drugs to help people either become sane or manage their diseases. Judging by your reactions to this lecture – sorry about that by the way, but I'm a teacher and tend to go on a lot – you don't know much about this stuff."_

Well, that was certainly true. If Iruka wasn't so anxious to get home he would have stopped off at the library to do some research. However, he didn't feel crazy, and wasn't it said that only sane people wondered if they were going insane? Weren't crazy people always certain that they weren't nuts?

But that brought up the only other reason for his "hallucination" problem: a genjutsu. Therefore, he brought his hands up in the appropriate hand seal and said, "Kai."

Nothing appeared differently. The town was still there, and the door to the Hokage Tower was still right behind him, since he had left it just before he made the hand sign. He felt the same.

"_What was that for?"_ the voice asked him with clear interest in her voice. _"Is that a tradition here for when you leave a building or something?"_

With a sigh Iruka said, _"No, I just thought that you were an illusion someone had put on me to make me think I was going crazy."_

"_Oh. Well, I'm not an illusion,"_ she said. _"I don't know if you remember, but my name's Tez."_

That stopped Iruka in the middle of the street. He hadn't remembered. It had never even occurred to him that he knew her name. He may have been super tired when she first popped into his head, but it was rude to forget her name! Speaking of which, she clearly remembered his. Had she told him last time why she was here? He vaguely remembered her telling him about taking a lesson and trying to go from one reality to another… or something. It sounded kind of crazy.

Clearly Tez was paying attention to his thoughts. He could feel it. Could she read his mind? Was she able to search his memory? She wasn't hiding where her attention was directed, but if she was able to jump from one dimension into another like she had, wasn't it possible that she could invade his mind as well?

"_Hey, what's wrong?"_ she asked gently.

"_I had a very troubling thought,"_ Iruka admitted. _"Can you read my mind?"_

Without hesitation Tez said, _"I can, but I'm not going to. Telepaths don't just go around mind-raping people unless they have to. I'm just hanging around in your body while I can so I can find out where I am and get to know it here a little better. Then, when my body wakes up at home I'll be pulled back and won't return for another couple of days. Besides, I'm not a natural telepath."_

Well, that made him feel better, but it didn't tell him anything about her. However, before he could ask, he felt a hand on his shoulder spin him around. Iruka jerked back in surprise, especially when he opened his eyes to see Naruto's face less than a centimeter away with the enthusiastic blond shouting at him asking him what was wrong.

"Naruto, calm down!" Iruka said with a smile. "I just got so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't realize I'd stopped walking. I'm okay."

"Really, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked. Iruka looked to his left only to see Kakashi standing by the Ichiraku ramen stall with Sakura standing just a few steps in front of him. They both looked worried.

"Yes, really," Iruka said. "Was I standing there for a long time or something?"

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, I thought you had been frozen in a time-warp jutsu you were frozen for so long." Kakashi said in his usual carefree way. "It seems to me that you are in desperate need of something to eat."

Naturally, Naruto turned on Iruka at that declaration and started shouting again. Before he (or Tez) knew it they were seated at the ramen bar and Naruto's bowl was being pushed in front of the poor Academy teacher. He felt Tez sigh in his head and his lungs followed suit before he picked up a pair of chopsticks and started eating. As he ate he couldn't help but feel three gazes watching him with varying degrees of worry.

Part way through his bowl Iruka heard Sakura clear her throat quietly. Turning, her eyes still bore into him with enough worry to make him uncomfortable. "What is it, Sakura-chan?" he asked.

"Iruka-sensei, are you sure you're all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine!" Iruka said with a smile.

"_You know, just because you smile doesn't mean she doesn't see that you're full of shit,"_ Tez said. Clearly she was still there, listening to his thoughts. _"I can't help it if you think so loudly!"_

Sakura pursed her lips together in a clear signal that she didn't believe his smile any more than Tez did. "You seem a bit… off, Iruka-sensei. Your body feels to me like it's overburdened or something. I'm not really sure."

"Well, Sakura-chan, I've been working a lot of hours lately, so I've been tired. I'm sure you're not sensing anything that a good night's sleep won't cure." He patted her shoulder comfortingly and went back to guzzling his broth. Kami, he was so hungry! He hadn't even realized how empty his stomach was until he'd taken his first bite. Naruto, of course, had polished off three whole bowls since he'd been sitting, but if Iruka didn't slow down he was going to get a stomach ache.

"_Who is that girl?"_ Tez asked with a little awe in her voice. _"She's very perceptive."_

"_Sakura-chan is a healer with a very high level of chakra control,"_ Iruka replied. Talking in his head was easier as he ate than speaking out loud. He didn't have to stop one in order to do the other this way.

"_That would explain it. She could sense that my mind and the portion of my power I brought through the void with me are putting a little more stress on your body. That's why you're so hungry: my power is feeding off the energy your body gets from food."_

"_I won't starve to death or anything while you're here, will I?"_ Iruka asked without pausing from his eating. His bowl was almost completely empty and he was debating on ordering a second.

"_Of course you won't starve, Iruka! I didn't bring that much power, and I'll probably be pulled back to my body by the time you've finished dinner. Anyway, tell me about that Naruto boy and that Kakashi guy. Better yet, just think about who they are and I'll read your mind. It'll be easier that way."_

Iruka did as she requested after he ordered his second bowl of ramen. He thought about Naruto. Teaching Naruto. Feeding Naruto. Punishing Naruto for pranks. Failing Naruto. That whole thing with Mizuki and the fight in the forest to protect Naruto. The Chunin exams and how proud he was when Naruto passed.

Kakashi was a little harder. At first he thought about how Kakashi was a Jounin with a single Sharingan able to copy jutsus with a single glance, basically his legend. Then he recalled how Kakashi became Team 7's sensei and their little dispute before the Chunin exams. Unfortunately, the memory he had trouble thinking about was Tsunade-sama's death. The pain was still too fresh, and it brought tears to his eyes.

"Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" Naruto asked. Iruka looked over to see cerulean eyes brimming with concern, so he quickly wiped his eyes and plastered a smile on his face.

"Ah, Naruto, I'm all right. I'm just very tired today. I think I'll just go home and crash out for the night." With that he stood up and reached for his wallet, but Kakashi put his hand over Iruka's wrist to stop the movement.

"I'm treating everyone this time around," the Hokage announced with a grin. "No need for you to pay, Iruka-sensei. Why don't you get a good night's sleep so you can torture your brats more effectively tomorrow?"

Iruka bowed respectfully and said, "Thank you, Kakashi-sama. I will go now and do as you said." With hugs to both children (who were now almost too old to be called children) Iruka bid them good night and continued the walk home.

"_Iruka,"_ the voice in his head said in a subdued manner. She seemed to be almost as affected by his memories of Tsunade-sama's death as he was. _"You know, I understand why you feel pain at the loss of your Hokage, but based off the conversations you've been having with the current Hokage et al, I'm wondering if you've given yourself any time to grieve properly."_

"_I went to her funeral,"_ Iruka thought dully. _"Since then there hasn't been enough time for me to breathe let alone deal with anything."_

There was a long pause while Tez seemed to think that over. He could feel the gears in her mind working, but he was too busy navigating the busy street to worry about it. After a while she said, _"Well, darling, I can feel myself beginning to wake. I'll see you in a few days and we can talk about this more then. Have a good sound sleep, Iruka."_

"_You, too, Tez,"_ Iruka thought back.

"_Oh, Iruka, you're so sweet, but I can only see you when I sleep. Until next time!"_ With that he felt that strange feeling of a door opening and closing in the back of his consciousness, and then she was gone. It wasn't until he was tucked up in bed a few hours later that he realized something: she only saw him when she slept, and she had promised to see him next in a few days.

How many days did she usually go without sleep?


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

The third time that the voice – Tez, he had to remember that she was a person with a name – came was when Iruka was in the jail. Sasuke had been captured during Pein's attack and was currently waiting for his trial. Until then, he was being stored – kept, whatever – in the maximum security section.

He felt that shuffling feeling in the back of his head as he walked down the hallway towards Sasuke's cell, and this time he was prepared for her to look out through his eyes to see where they were. _"We're in a jail,"_ he announced before she could say anything. _"Could you please be quiet until this meeting is over?"_

Tez thought for a moment before replying. _"Is it okay if I try to do something while you're in your meeting?"_

"_What are you going to try?"_

"_I don't know yet. I'll have to see where you're going before I can make up my mind. I don't think you'll notice anything, though, so it shouldn't interfere."_

Well, he was okay with that, he supposed. He also supposed that there was nothing he could do to stop her. She could cross an impenetrable void whenever she wanted to as it was. He could barely perform a teleportation jutsu.

It didn't matter anyway. He'd reached his destination. Looking into the room he found Sasuke seated at a table with chakra-binding handcuffs locking his hands together. It showed how much Ibiki-san trusted Iruka that he allowed him to see Sasuke in a visitation room. Had it been any other ninja they would have been guided down a dungeon-like hallway and given a stool to sit on outside of a small cell.

The Jounin guard opened the door for Iruka before the teacher was quite ready for him to do so. With a deep breath he entered the room and jumped when the door slammed closed behind him. It was just the surprise from the sudden noise that had Iruka jumping, not the fear of being locked in with an S-ranked criminal. Honest.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun. How have you been this week?" Iruka asked as he took his basket over to the table and set it down.

Sasuke didn't say anything. He never did. He looked up at Iruka with sunken eyes and just watched him, as if waiting for something bad to happen. True to form, though, Iruka refused to actually do anything. He just sat down and pulled a tomato and a rice ball out of the basket to set within Sasuke's reach.

"I added some onigiri today. You like pickled plums, right?" Sasuke didn't answer. "Well, if you don't you can pull them off. I won't mind."

The raven picked up his rice ball and began eating mechanically. As was part of the ritual, Iruka pulled out more food and sorted it out evenly. Then he poured out two cups of green tea and gave one to Sasuke. Then, as Sasuke ate, he started in on the innocuous newsy conversation he always employed on his former student. None of it was important stuff – who cared if he taught another class from hell? He never named any students or their families because that was unprofessional, so no important information ever reached the Uchiha's ears anyway.

As he talked, Sasuke ate. When Sasuke finished eating, he just watched Iruka with those sunken eyes. He could feel Tez watching the whole thing and he sensed her thinking about it. Then, when he temporarily lapsed into silence, she spoke. _"I know you want me to keep quiet, but I can tell you aren't reaching him this way anymore."_

"_I know,"_ Iruka replied. _"I'm just here because I want him to know he has a friend, you know, besides Naruto."_

"_Does that Naruto guy come here often?"_ Tez asked. Iruka wondered briefly if she was analyzing the situation to help him or if she was just curious. For some strange reason he couldn't tell. She felt a little cut off from him, as if she'd taken a step back and had shielded her emotions.

"_Naruto comes to visit every day,"_ Iruka thought softly. _"Sasuke doesn't respond to him either."_

"_Do either of you ask him anything other than how he's doing now?"_ Tez asked. Clearly, she had a point to these questions. If she didn't, this last one was just weird.

Anyway, Iruka had to think back to the past few visits he'd had with Sasuke. He'd only ever asked the boy how he was, if he was hanging in there, and if he was eating. Honestly, he hadn't wanted to ask anything else. He didn't want to hear about what it was like living with Orochimaru. The torture, the experiments, the sadism… those were bad enough to read about in the reports he was helping Kakashi to go through. He didn't want Sasuke's voice to color it with the perspective of someone who had lived through it. It was painful enough as it was.

Unfortunately, the Uchiha was smart enough to realize that Iruka was afraid. He was pretty sure that's why Sasuke didn't say anything at all. Sasuke had always been a sweet boy, especially the one time he met him before his family's massacre. Sure, he may not have understood common social graces, but he was giving to the people he felt worth it. And Sasuke had always had a place in his heart for his Academy teacher, who always leant an ear when he needed it. Iruka just wished he knew how to get Sasuke talking about something!

"_You could always ask him about his nightmares, and how bad they are. Don't bring up anything that you know happened to him, and in fact don't say anything after you ask. Let him decide if he's ready to share."_

And there it was: the reason why he couldn't sense anything from his not-so-silent passenger. She was being a therapist. Therapists were trained to stay aloof and emotionally separate from their patients, regardless of whether they were ninjas or civilians. Tez was probably subconsciously closing herself off to him, not even realizing that she was doing it.

Of course, that brought up the thought that maybe she didn't know how accessible her motives and intentions normally were to him. Perhaps she could teach him how to close off his mind to her?

Anyway, he had been silent for too long. Sasuke was watching him very closely, almost defensively, as if waiting for him to say something terrible. Iruka set down the rice ball he hadn't yet bitten into and shifted to get more comfortable in his horrible plastic chair.

"Sasuke, I was wondering how horrible your nightmares are. Quite frankly, it looks like you haven't been sleeping," he said softly.

Sasuke actually jerked his head back as if Iruka had thrown a punch at him. His eyes darted to the side and turned downcast. Iruka did as Tez had told him – he didn't say a thing. In fact, he didn't even move. Clearly Sasuke was thinking it over, so Iruka waited patiently for him. After a good long while Sasuke finally spoke.

"I keep hearing the screams," the boy admitted miserably. His voice was steady and strong as Iruka expected, but his eyes looked tortured as he stared at the floor.

Iruka nodded, briefly catching Sasuke's gaze before it returned to the ground. Then he said, "Based off the reports I've read, that's not very surprising."

"My team – the one I put together in Sound before everything… happened – none of us could sleep at night very well. That's why we pushed ourselves so hard every day to find my brother. If we were exhausted then we could sometimes sleep without dreams."

"Have they been worse since coming here?" Iruka asked. He'd had missions that had left him with screaming nightmares before. He understood the feeling even if it wasn't as bad or as intense as Sasuke's experience.

Sasuke nodded silently with his gaze still locked on the floor. After a moment he said, "Sometimes I think that maybe I should ask the guard to go get me my shrink, but they haven't brought me anything I've asked for yet and I don't want to show them any more weakness."

All ninjas dreaded the post traumatic stress after particularly hard missions, and they all felt it. That's why each ninja was assigned a therapist at the hospital whom they could go to whenever they felt they needed to talk. Most only went to sessions when ordered, but many knew what a benefit it was to have someone safe to talk with to deal with the emotional problems. Sasuke was obviously of the former group, so admitting to Iruka that he may need professional help was a bit worrisome to the teacher. Sasuke never asked for anything. Ever.

"I'll go talk to her after I leave and ask her if she would come by," Iruka offered. Sasuke didn't respond, so Iruka assumed he accepted it. "What else can I get for you?"

Sasuke shrugged, but his eyes finally found Iruka's for the first time since his return. The change was practically invisible, but they looked just a little bit lighter – a little brighter. It was just enough of a change that Iruka felt a light of hope. Maybe Sasuke would start baiting Naruto again. If he did, it would be a sign that he was starting to recover from his traumatic experiences and things were finding a new equilibrium.

"Iruka-sensei, there's something you could tell me," Sasuke said softly.

"What is it, Sasuke-kun?" Iruka asked. There were a lot of things he couldn't tell the Uchiha, but it was crucial he allow the boy to ask.

"Have you taken any time to grieve for the Godaime?" Sasuke asked bluntly. "I understand if you don't want to tell me," he looked up at the security camera in a gentle reminder that their meetings were witnessed, "but you look like shit."

Iruka sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose over his scar. "Everybody's been telling me that," he said with a sigh. "I could really use a couple days off to really rest up after this last month. You know I've been pulling triple duty."

"Hn. Maybe you should ask for some leave?" Sasuke suggested.

Iruka smiled at the boy. He remembered having chats like this when Sasuke was still his student. The boy had needed someone to confide in and trust, so Iruka had gently provided that in the form of a tea outing. Unfortunately, Sasuke had stopped showing up at the teahouse a few months before he defected. Iruka had tried to warn Kakashi that something was up with his student, but Kakashi was still being a bastard after their argument at the Chunin exam.

But, to get back to the present… "I would if I knew we could manage, but we need everyone we can spare right now. I'm not the only one taking on extra shifts." The words sounded hollow even in his ears, and judging by the look Sasuke was giving him, he thought the excuse was crap, too.

They lapsed into silence for a while, each one contemplating their own thoughts. Tez was surprisingly silent, but Iruka could still feel her there. Her attention seemed to be taken up by something else, though. He briefly wondered what could be so fascinating to the voice in his head, but was pulled from his thoughts when Sasuke spoke.

"Could you bring some of that sushi you used to make for me?" the boy asked tentatively. "The kind with the tomatoes on top?"

Iruka beamed. "Of course I can, Sasuke-kun!"

At that point the guard banged on the door, indicating that their time was up. Iruka packed up his basket and said his farewell to the Uchiha. Sasuke stood, too, and bowed back, telling Iruka to take care. Then Iruka tried to leave, but his feet wouldn't move. He looked down and saw that his shoes had been turned into cement.

"_Tez, what are you doing?"_ he demanded of the woman. He felt her shrug before his shoes suddenly melted back to their normal soft material.

"_I told you I needed to do something! My assignment was to see if I could use magic from your body. Since you didn't even feel me do it, I guess you can't feel my power at all."_

Iruka looked over at Sasuke, who was looking at Iruka's feet in open-eyed wonder. As the Uchiha looked up at Iruka, the older man simply turned around and left the room without so much as an explanation. He had no words.

Sasuke had seen Tez's ability! He'd seen her magic! What was he going to tell him next time? What could he tell him next time? This would ruin all of his credibility with the emotive teen. Sasuke wouldn't trust him anymore! He'd think Iruka was crazy! Anyone would think Iruka was crazy. He sounded crazy when he practiced telling his reflection about his little _visitor_ and thought he sounded like he belonged in a psych ward.

And look at that power Tez had used! Jutsus that transfigured things like that were a particularly difficult specialty that few Jounin had ever been able to master. The girl in his head – who sounded like she was a few years younger than Iruka – was amazingly powerful and particularly skilled if she didn't need to use his hands for any seals at all. He still couldn't wrap his head around the idea that she didn't need hand seals.

"_Iruka, where are we going?"_ Tez asked. She only sounded mildly interested, as if she was that stupid Jounin-turned-Hokage named Kakashi.

"_We're going…"_ but Iruka had to stop. Apparently he'd kept walking while he'd been having his internal freak-out and his feet had led him into the training field. He was on the path right between the clearings where Team Gai and Team Six used to train. _"I have no idea where we're going."_

"_How about we pick a nice clearing and have a seat?"_ Tez suggested. _"This looks like a peaceful section of woods."_

"_These are the training grounds,"_ Iruka corrected as he made his feet start moving again. _"This is the area where Genin teams train between missions for their Chunin exams. A little further down is the area where we Chunin usually train."_

"_Oh,"_ was all Tez said. She maintained the silence until Iruka had found a nice clearing and settled in a tree branch to sit. Then, out of the blue, she said, _"So, show me what you know."_

"_What?"_ Iruka demanded.

"_My son watches this show on television about ninja, and I know all about the historical ninja from my planet, but I'd like to see the style of fighting that a ninja like you would employ in a fight."_

Iruka had to think about this. Should he show her? She wasn't an enemy so far as he could tell, but she was still a stranger. How would he really know if she was actually a friend? She hadn't done anything to him, but who knew how long that would last?

Although, now that he thought about it, he hadn't really trained much lately. True, he didn't normally spend nearly as much time training as, say, Naruto, but he hadn't been working toward his Jounin exam, either. He only trained enough to keep battle-ready in case something happened to the village or he was sent on a mission. Lately, he'd been training even less often going from a few hours every day to a few hours maybe twice a week.

Without thinking about it – he may as well trust her for now since she probably had access to his thoughts anyway – Iruka stood up and started his warm-ups and stretches. Then he started running within the little clearing, slowly building up his speed until he was dodging and diving through trees in basic evasive maneuvering. After half an hour he had run through all of the taijutsu moves he knew and started in on his ninjutsu.

Tez stayed silent as Iruka trained. She saw everything, of that Iruka was certain. She wasn't as easy to sense this time as she had been the previous two times she had visited, but she wasn't as cut off as she had been around Sasuke. After Iruka had run through all of the ninjutsu he knew, he started working on some combinations that he was having a little trouble with.

That's when Tez ended the silence and gave some advice. Iruka listened to it and noticed that the jump side kick with the chakra flare was easier with her advice. He just needed to visualize the chakra coming out of his feet as if it were a solid extension of his foot so that it could more effectively send him flying away from the tree he had chosen as his opponent. Then she suggested that he use the same maneuver when he landed in order to send himself flying into the trees, just in case he needed to escape.

After practicing the new technique a few times he moved onto another move, and Tez gave him some more advice, and each time she would add some little twist or spin on the move so that it became more versatile. Apparently he didn't visualize how he wanted his chakra to work clearly enough. The small words of wisdom worked wonders, and after another half hour of training Iruka took a little break.

"_Thank you for the help,"_ he thought at his companion.

"_You don't do this very often, do you?"_ she asked. He could feel the smile on her face that he couldn't see.

Iruka shrugged. _"I'm not training for the Jounin exam or anything, so I only have to train enough to maintain the level of skill I have."_

"_What's the next level?"_ Tez asked. That's when Iruka realized that she didn't know anything about the ninja ranking system.

He started in on the lecture, but Tez cut him off. _"Honestly, Iruka, I don't know how long I've still got to stay here. I'll probably be waking up any minute now. How about you just visualize the knowledge and I'll glean it from your mind?"_

With barely a thought Iruka pictured his academy classroom and focused on the memory of the last time he had taught the lesson of shinobi ranks. After a couple of moments Tez indicated that she was finished by thanking him.

"_So, now that I understand that a Chunin is a higher rank than a Genin but is a lower rank than a Jounin, and since I now understand that higher ranked ninja bring in more money and attain higher prestige, I am wondering why you decided to remain at your current level?"_

Iruka shrugged. _"I guess I just never really thought about becoming a Jounin. I got busy with teaching and working the missions' desk, and then my sensei was killed on a mission, so even if I had thought about it I wouldn't have anyone to teach me."_

There was a long silence and Tez seemed to mull that over. _"You know, Iruka, you pick things up pretty quickly, and you're a good listener. I'll admit I don't know anything about your jutsu and stuff, but I guess it would be a fair trade for me to help you train since you're already loaning me your body for my assignments."_

Iruka thought about that for a little bit. Honestly, he didn't know if he wanted to take the test. He knew what was involved in the test, just as he knew that a lot more people died in it than in the Chunin exam. He also couldn't think about how much time he would need every day to train. He barely had enough hours in the day for his desk jobs let alone to add a few hours of training. The pitiful amount of time he could scrounge up wouldn't even be close to enough if he wanted to take the next exam in eight months.

"_Hey, Iruka, my time is almost up here. How about you think on it for a few days and I'll leave you with this piece of information: where I'm from I'm the best battle-mage on the planet, all of my private lesson students have reached very high, honorable positions within the magical community, and I specialize in unique magical abilities that often don't fall within the realms of known methodologies. I'm sure that between what you know already and what I know already, you and I will be able to train you up in time for the next Jounin exam."_

With that Iruka felt Tez get pulled from his mind and that little door slammed itself shut. Clearly she had woken up and her body had pulled her soul back of its own will.

Iruka suddenly felt a little lonely in his own head, but he shook it off and continued with his training as he started analyzing Tez's offer.


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

Iruka sat on his couch, his knee bouncing up and down in agitation. He was tired, like usual, and wanted to go to sleep, but it had been three days. The other times he'd had a visit from Tez she'd come by three days apart. He was expecting her at any moment. In fact, he had been waiting for her. He'd been thinking about her offer and he needed to talk to her, but he didn't know when she was due in!

He really wanted to lie down. His day had gone about as could be expected considering how much work he had done. What was getting to him, though, was the waiting. He wanted to get started on training! It had taken him a few days, but he'd started arranging his schedule to allow for the added hours to work out. Kakashi had given him an odd look when he'd made his request, though.

"Kakashi-sama, would it be possible for me to reduce the number of hours you and I work together so that I may have more hours to train?" Iruka had asked the previous day.

Kakashi had tilted his head to the side and studied Iruka intently for several long moments. "Of course you may, Iruka-sensei. It surprises me to think that you have not been training lately, though."

"Oh, I have been training," Iruka corrected hastily. "I have not been able to train very much, but I have not allowed myself to go soft! I would simply like a little extra time every day to be able to improve on my skills."

Kakashi's head straightened up and he smiled so brightly his one visible eye scrunched up. "Of course you may, Iruka-sensei. That makes sense. Are you going to reduce your hours at the Missions Office also?"

Iruka nodded enthusiastically and pulled a paper off of the desk in front of the Hokage and handed it to him. "This is my request form, and this one…" he pulled another form from the middle of the pile, "…is from Izumo requesting to take my hours at the desk."

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, you seem to have everything planned out!" Kakashi said as he pulled out a pen to sign the papers. Before the pen touched paper, though, Kakashi pulled back. "This will cut your hours at both places down significantly. How about I remove you from desk duty and assign you here every day?"

Iruka stiffened in surprise. "Kakashi-sama, we don't have the staffing for something completely…"

"Maa, I think we do. Truth be told, I was wondering how I was going to tell you that you would be reassigned as my assistant permanently and Takashi-san, who is my assistant on the afternoons when you are at the Missions Office, will be taking your place there while you take his shift here. That way I only have two assistants and the office does not lose any staffing." With that Kakashi pulled a scroll out of the top drawer of his desk and held it out to Iruka.

With a momentary hesitation Iruka accepted the scroll from his Hokage and opened it. He breathed a sigh of relief to see that he was still assigned to the academy, but his hours with the Hokage were every day, and he got off work at seven every night. Not only did he get off earlier, as he had hoped, but he now had the time to train as well as eat. "Kakashi-sama, I thank you for this assignment," he said with a deep bow.

"Maa, I won't need to stay as late with you here every day. Most of our time together is spent taking care of mistakes that Takashi-san made. He's good with paperwork, but I think that he is too young to understand the complexities of such important documents."

Iruka smiled and bowed again before once again settling in to work. After a few minutes, though, it was clear Kakashi's mind was wandering, especially when suddenly Kakashi asked, "Maa, Sensei, are you planning on finally taking your Jounin exam?"

"Yes," was all Iruka said, but Kakashi didn't seem satisfied at leaving it there.

"Do you have a sensei, Sensei?" the Hokage asked.

"Yes," Iruka replied sharply. "Lord Hokage, we need to get this done if we are to leave on time tonight. I don't have much time to train and I don't want to miss a moment of it!"

Of course Kakashi had shut up and continued working after that. He wasn't really all that late these days and he did work hard, but then the whole village relied on him now and not just his teammates. But then, Kakashi had never been so late for anything that he missed the important things, just ridiculously late enough often enough to piss people off.

Anyway, that brought him to the present. He had been training for a few hours both the previous night and today, but he needed his teacher to tell him where he could improve. He needed to be faster, stronger, and to develop a specialty. All three he could do on his own, but a teacher would help him improve much faster than going it alone.

The minutes ticked by slowly. His eyes got heavier and heavier. He jerked his head back up a couple of times after he caught himself dozing off, but eventually his body overruled his mind and he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Tez looked around in wonderment as she opened her mental eyes once she had crossed into Iruka's mind. This had to be a dream, literally. The world around her was nothing like the small pieces of city she had seen on her last two visits, and based off what she knew about Iruka she doubted he'd allow himself to be walking down the public street while nude. Also, she was outside his body instead of in it, which was typical when she was in someone else's dream.<p>

So, without bothering to alert Iruka to her presence, she rose from his subconscious and took hold of his mind. Technically this was against her ethics, but so was her assignment. She was supposed to take over a sleeping body this time, so since one had been conveniently provided for her who was she to argue? Besides, her visits were too short for her to figure anything out with Iruka being awake and leading a very interesting and distracting life!

Seriously, if she hadn't been so distracted by his life, she would have had half of this stuff done by now! Ag-Coern, the dear, had dropped by a few days ago to tell her that she had several things she needed to experiment with, but given the suspicious nature of ninja it was safer not to do anything. After all, if Tez did anything wrong she wasn't the one who was going to be on the receiving end of a beating. It would be Iruka. Quite frankly, she liked the guy too much for that.

But she wasn't here to make friends. She was here to train. Training Iruka in his ninja skills would provide opportunities for her to practice some of her new skills, as well as present opportunities for her to learn new ones. It was a win-win situation as far as she was concerned.

That didn't mean that taking over Iruka's body was right, though. It just meant that he wouldn't know about the injustice until he woke up. It also gave her the opportunity to do some exploring she wouldn't normally get to do.

Tez opened Iruka's eyes to see that they were back in the room they had been in the first time she had visited. Carefully she stood up and walked around until she became adjusted to the feeling of his body. It was one thing to go from one of her forms to another, but that was natural. Being in someone else's meat suit was a little strange-feeling and took some getting used to.

Once she felt ready she left the apartment. Picking a random direction she started walking, but when the city started thinning out she stopped and sent out a small pulse of power to sense the layout of the land. Since the city was behind her she flipped a bitch and went back the way she came.

The city was pretty lively at night. The ninjas were enjoying their time between missions with a fervor that came from frequent life-and-death terror, and the civilians seemed to be the ones working. Well, not completely. There was a flower shop with a ninja girl behind the counter.

The flower shop struck an idea in Tez and she diverted her course. Inside she looked around and picked up a random bouquet of flowers and moved toward the counter.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei," the girl said with a happy smile. "I haven't seen you here in a while."

Tez smiled. "I've been busy."

"Well I'm glad to see you've got a date. That's a great bouquet for a girl!"

Tez looked down at the bundle of flowers in her hand. She didn't recognize the flowers, but then again she barely knew what went into a bouquet on her own planet let alone one in an alternate reality. All she knew was that none of the flowers were poisonous… and she thought that some were roses, but their coloring was off. "Are these ones dyed?" she asked.

The girl giggled. "Iruka-sensei, you're so funny! It's one of the dyed ones! All of them are colored."

Good enough. "I'll buy it, then."

She started searching through Iruka's pockets looking for something that looked like money. The only money she found was a small purse full of coins. Pretending that she knew what the denominations were she reached in and grabbed a bigger coin and set it down, pretending that she knew what she was doing. The girl looked at the coin for a long time and then looked up at Tez.

"You need ten more of those, Iruka-sensei."

Okay. She dug through the coin purse again and pulled out nine more identical coins. Then she pulled out another one that looked different. She didn't have any more of those other coins in the purse.

"Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" the girl asked.

Tez smiled. Time to put her plan into action! "I'm fine. Just on my way to a safari and this foreign money is confusing!"

"Ah, I thought I recognized that voice," an older woman said as she came out of the back room. She looked at the girl's surprised expression and said, "Ino, what's wrong?"

"Iruka-sensei is being weird," Ino said, her eyes never leaving Iruka's face. "He just said he's on a safari."

The older woman – who, upon closer inspection, was Ino's mother – leaned close and gave Tez a searching look. Tez, on the other hand, made sure her eyes were a little phased out and started backing away. "Miss, I'm sorry, but I'm trying to pay for the flowers. I realize that mixed currency is a little strange, but I've only just gotten to this country and I haven't had a chance to convert everything over."

The woman turned to her daughter and said, "I think he's sleepwalking. He doesn't look like he's under a genjutsu."

Ino put her hands in the proper sign and said the same release Iruka had the second time she'd visited, but still nothing happened. Of course it wouldn't, but still Tez was afraid that she'd be banished and returned to her body with a crash. As it was, she barely kept her sigh of relief in check as she took back the smaller coins. "I'm glad this is the right amount! Keep the change!" She said as she beat a hasty retreat.

Once outside Tez led Iruka's body around the nearest corner and leapt up to the roof. Apparently Iruka was used to doing that because she had accidentally tapped into his body memory and had simply bound up as if she did it every day, which by the by she didn't. She hopped on a stage like she was just stepping up a step instead of a three foot leap, sure, but she didn't make it a habit to walk on the roof.

After silently jumping around from roof to roof for a while, Iruka's body memory marking out a path the man had probably taken multiple times, Tez jumped back down to the street level. She'd have to remember to tell Iruka about that, so he could deal with the repercussions when he woke up.

She looked around and found herself outside of a sweetshop. It was still open, but looked deserted. Iruka's stomach gave a low growl. Seriously, how long had it been since the man ate? He was starving! She ran her hand down Iruka's ribs to his hip and felt every bone. He wasn't emaciated by any means, and he had quite a bit of muscle definition, but he was far too thin for the amount of muscle he had. Those balls… they were called dango on her home world, right? They looked good, but they were hardly filling. Iruka bought some anyway, along with some tempura to go from a small shop a little further down the street. With dinner in hand, Tez found a bench near the academy and settled in to eat.

Unfortunately, after two bites of sweet potato tempura she realized that she wasn't alone. She turned her head and noticed that Kakashi was standing just a few feet away with a way-too-big smile on his face. "Maa, Iruka-sensei, may I join you there?"

Tez didn't react. She was too frozen for that, but the Hokage didn't wait for a response. He gracefully stepped up to the bench and settled himself into it.

"I'm glad to see you're eating," Kakashi said. "You've been looking a little wan lately."

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei, for your marvelous compliment!" Tez thought. Iruka was too polite to be so sarcastic to his village's leader. But what she said was, "Hokage-sama, what brings you to this bench?"

"I was out following a mouse that crossed my path, and it led me here before I lost it," was the obvious lie. Tez hoped he didn't expect her to buy it. He didn't seem that stupid.

"Do you want something to eat?" Tez offered, ignoring what Kakashi had said. She figured that Iruka would have, since the lie was so obvious.

"No, Sensei, I'm fine. What I want to know is, are you okay?"

There, he'd finally said it. Tez could tell that time she'd popped over when Iruka and he had been working together that Kakashi was concerned. He'd shown it in a subtle way, but Tez was used to watching for subtle clues about a person's thoughts. It was kind of a boss to be concerned for his employee, but just to be safe Tez allowed her power to rush to her eyes so she could read the Hokage's aura.

Well, he was genuine. He also seemed to have some deep feelings floating around tinting his aura. They were so mixed together that Tez couldn't make them out exactly. She could guess, but then again she could also guess wrong. "I'm doing better," Tez said. At least, Iruka's body was doing better. She wouldn't be able to tell about his state of mind until he woke up and they could have a chat.

"I'm glad to hear it," Kakashi said. "You were starting to worry me. I checked up on your record and noticed that you had gone to see your psych-nin about a week ago."

Tez made sure to itch at Iruka's scar as she performed a little grimace of embarrassment. "Yeah, I was under a lot of stress and felt a quick session might do some good." Really, he'd gone to see a shrink? Had her first arrival freaked him out that much?

"Did it work?" Kakashi asked while Tez shoveled food in her mouth. Chewing gave her a good long while to think before coming back with a game plan. And to search through a few of Iruka's recent memories.

"Well, I found out that when people are overtired and stressed it's not uncommon for them to have some problems. That's why I've been trying to reduce my hours. Some training, maybe a new goal, and a good night's sleep every night should have me as good as new in no time."

Kakashi stared and who he presumed was Iruka for a long time. It was too long. Maybe he could sense Tez's power altering the signature of Iruka's chakra? She hadn't thought about it, but with her taking over the two powers would probably blend a little bit. And was she talking the way Iruka would? She didn't know him very well, but then again she had impersonated people she'd known for less time. Kakashi was too difficult to read, and his mixed emotions made it hard for Tez to figure out what was going on in his mind.

"Well, I'm glad you're going to take the Jounin exam. When you do I can have you as my assistant full time!" Kakashi smiled.

Tez didn't know what to think. How would Iruka react? She knew he loved the academy – her recent search through his mind showed her that – and he loved where he was. That's probably why he'd allowed himself to stagnate at his current level. Unfortunately, her probe through his memories hadn't gone that far into the past: only a couple of days. How would he react to such a statement? She didn't want to pry further. It was bad enough she'd searched through his private memories as far as she did. This whole trip was breaking the privacy and trust of her host way more than her private ethics would allow. She needed to end this!

With a quick toss of her empty to-go carton into the closest trash can Tez stood up and placed the end of her Dango stick in her mouth, chewing on the sweet ball. "Well, Kakashi-sama, I have to get going. Tomorrow's going to come faster than I'd like. I'll be seeing you." With a bow she grabbed her flowers and walked away. Kakashi, she noticed, watched her go without moving a single muscle. It was really disconcerting. How much had he figured out?

Tez followed the streets back to Iruka's apartment where she put the flowers into a vase. Then she penned a quick note to Iruka and sat herself back onto the couch, placing Iruka's body in the same position it had been in when she'd arrived. Then, after she siphoned some of her power into Iruka's system, Tez went back to her own body at home.

* * *

><p>Iruka woke up to the early morning light and stretched his stiff muscles. He felt surprisingly good considering the fact that he'd drifted to sleep so late on his couch. He took a quick look around before getting up, but froze when he noticed the bouquet of blue-dyed flowers on his counter with a folded piece of paper leaning up against the vase.<p>

After a quick look around the apartment to make certain nothing was out of place – and it wasn't – Iruka went over to the flowers and carefully unfolded the letter.

_Iruka,_

_I'm sorry, but I took your body out for a spin last night. I went to the flower shop, and the girl Ino and her mother think you were sleepwalking. If they ask you about it, you can tell them that you did it sometimes when you were young and sometimes you still sleepwalk when you're life gets a little extra stressful. I also used one of your big coins to buy the flowers. Sorry about that, too._

_I fed your body, though. You really should eat more. Someone with your body type should be eating about twice what you do. Please start taking care of yourself! Your Hokage noticed and asked me if you were alright. I pretended to be you, but I don't know if he completely believed it. Maybe you should tell him about me?_

_Anyway, since I missed you this time around, I want you to start meditating. Meditate for at least half an hour every day, and you should imagine that you're fitting yourself into a tiny box. I know it seems strange, but this exercise should help you be able to sense your own chakra as well as the chakra of others. Then, when you get used to it, you'll have much higher chakra control._

_Also, think about the kinds of spells you want to specialize in. We can practice those and get you ready for your Jounin exam._

_Take care! I'll see you in a couple days._

_Signed,_

_Tez_

Iruka sighed. He didn't want to admit that he felt better now! How could she just take over his body like that? He was supposed to trust her? How could he trust her if she did shit like taking over his body and lying to the Yamanaka family? They were like cousins to him! Family! And she lied?

Well, she wouldn't know that, though. And she had told him about it so he could deal with the shit he'd be eating tomorrow. That, at least, was honorable. He'd do the meditation exercises, but when she dropped in next they were definitely going to have a talk! If he had to, he'd put an end to her visits!

But then again, he knew nothing about her. What kind of person knew magic and spells, and was well-versed in psychiatry? Who claimed to be a teacher and a battle-mage, whatever that was? She must have been a high-ranking mage to be able to go from one reality to another, but the only spell she'd ever done here was to turn his shoes into concrete. Was she crazy or something? Nothing made sense!

He'd just have to ask her next time. He definitely would.


	6. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

The next few days passed very quickly. Iruka practiced the meditation that Tez had given him in addition to his other duties. The first day of practice was particularly difficult because he discovered that picturing himself in a small box didn't really work. He was just too big. So, he pictured shrinking himself and putting himself in it, but that didn't seem to work either. He couldn't figure out why he just couldn't picture it, but when he pictured his chakra being poured into the box and just filling it, he didn't have a problem.

Of course, he didn't figure that out until the second day. He did his meditation in the morning, and for some reason he just decided that since this was a chakra exercise it made more sense to picture his chakra filling the box instead of himself.

He felt the difference immediately. When he visualized his chakra he saw it as a pool of bubbly chakra that poured out of his seven chakra centers into his core, which is what the small box contained. It felt like a warm, fizzy, aerated liquid even after he ended his meditation session. Then, throughout the day he noticed that he was simply more aware of the chakra around him, and each person's chakra felt different – unique to the individual and their personality.

On the third morning before his shift at the academy, Iruka was meditating again when he felt a familiar chakra pattern approaching him from the direction of the village. He didn't like meditating in his apartment, so he figured it would be a nice change of scenery if he meditated in the training grounds. Unfortunately, the lack of privacy meant that the Hokage could easily approach him and interrupt.

Without turning around Iruka said, "Good morning, Kakashi-sama. I didn't expect to see you so early in the morning."

"I do train just like every other shinobi, Iruka-sensei! I just sensed your chakra signature and decided to see what you and your sensei were up to, but I see that you are alone."

Iruka turned around to look at the Hokage. "She isn't able to come every day, but she gives me assignments to practice. Right now I'm meditating and learning how to sense chakra more effectively. It's supposed to help me with chakra control."

Kakashi nodded and sat down in front of Iruka. "Who is your sensei, then?"

Was that what was bothering Kakashi? Well, he hadn't thought that Kakashi would bother with such a minor detail, but then again he had never expected to see Kakashi out on the training grounds either. Should he tell him about Tez? It sounded crazy. Iruka was pretty sure he wasn't hallucinating, but it still sounded crazy whenever he practiced telling Kakashi about her presence.

The way Iruka figured it, one of three things would happen when he told Kakashi about Tez. One: Kakashi would use his Sharingan eye to read Iruka's mind and discover that Tez did, in fact, exist and possibly meet her. For this scenario he was planning on telling Kakashi while she was there so that they could meet. Two: Kakashi sent Iruka to T&I for some torture and information extraction. This was the least likely scenario. Three: Iruka would be sent to the hospital's psych ward for multiple personality disorder. Of the three, option three was most likely.

That's why, against Tez's recommendation, Iruka withheld the fact that Tez only popped into his head occasionally. Instead, he said, "The name she gave me is Tez, but I'm pretty sure that's an alias. She's a much higher level than I am and she can do things with chakra I've never seen before." Technically all of that was true, but non-specific enough that if Kakashi did decide to look into it he'd never find anything.

"Well, I'd like to meet this Kunoichi sometime," Kakashi said. "Until then, show me what you've learned."

So Iruka told Kakashi what he had been instructed to learn. Kakashi listened intently, nodding occasionally to show that he understood. As Iruka spoke, he felt that familiar shuffling feeling in the back of his mind, and his heart leapt when he realized that Tez had arrived just as he was explaining his altered visualization of the technique.

"_That's a very good change,"_ Tez commented when he was through and Kakashi seemed to be thinking it over. _"Meditation and visualization are unique to the individual, so what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. You just skipped ahead a little and ultimately reached the goal of the exercise much faster than I anticipated." _

Iruka would have grinned had Kakashi not been there. He could sense the pride Tez felt and realized that she probably didn't give compliments very often.

"_What I want is for you to do that jump kick thing we practiced before, but this time I want you to concentrate on your chakra a little more and see what happens,"_ Tez continued.

Aloud Iruka said, "Well, the next part is to practice with my chakra. Do you mind, Kakashi-sama?"

"Of course not, Iruka-sensei. Please, go ahead. Don't mind me!" Kakashi was wearing that exaggerated grin again – the one that said he was being obstinate in a polite way. He was going to stay no matter what Iruka wanted, and he was going to pretend that Iruka had invited him to do it that way. With a mental shrug and sigh Iruka stood up and performed a brief warm-up routine. He didn't need to be sore during kunai practice at the academy later.

Then he did the jump kick routine at the tree again, but this time when he focused his chakra at his foot and pushed it at the tree, he flew away from the tree and crashed into another one. When he hit the ground Kakashi was there to check him for injury and sit him up.

"That was a bit much, don't you think?" Iruka asked. His head hurt a little.

"_No kidding,"_ Tez replied dryly.

"I suppose if you used a little less chakra you wouldn't blast yourself so far," Kakashi said.

"_And use your chakra to cushion your landing. Remember what we practiced last time? Just use a brief pulse of chakra to slow your crash landing so you can land without the hurting yourself part."_

"All right, guys, let's do that then!" Iruka said. He picked himself up and walked back to the original tree with Kakashi watching him. Iruka didn't notice the strange look Kakashi was giving him, but then again he was concentrating on his chakra. This time he performed the move with much more control, only shooting himself a few feet away from the tree. Then, just to spice things up a little, he sent out a very strong chakra pulse out of his feet and shot himself up into the branches.

Tez sent a thought into Iruka's head, and the man followed the image by latching onto a high branch and pushing himself back toward the ground by bouncing from one tree to another using chakra to redirect his body. Then, when the set was complete, he flung himself to the ground using a small chakra pulse to soften his landing. Standing, he did the entire set three more times.

Kakashi watched the whole thing in silence. Iruka never came near him, but he kept vigil just in case the Chunin lost control again. His control had improved greatly in a very short time. Whoever this teacher was, she was impressive. So was Iruka, actually. Despite the odd statement after he'd hit the tree, each time he went through the set it got tighter and his execution became more graceful.

Then Kakashi decided to challenge the Chunin a little more. "Iruka," he called when the other man landed after his third time through the set. "I'm going to send a chakra pulse through the trees. I want you to readjust your trajectory each time to hit the trees my chakra are in."

Iruka, who was a little sweaty and starting to feel the drain, nodded to his Hokage and sent himself back up into the air.

The Hokage raced from tree to tree sending his chakra out so it could be felt. Iruka followed just a moment behind him up above. Kakashi had to quickly dodge around, careful to not hit every tree to make it more difficult for Iruka, but the Chunin managed to keep up by pushing himself around any obstacles. They kept this up for several minutes before Iruka brought himself down.

"Why did you stop?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka smiled. He could feel Tez's joy at his ability and the feeling was contagious. "I have to be at the academy in an hour and I still need to eat breakfast and shower. Thank you for your help, Kakashi-sama. I will see you this afternoon."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei, it was an enlightening afternoon," Kakashi said before he disappeared in a puff of smoke and swirl of leaves.

"_That guy's strange,"_ Tez said. _"Do you think he knows I'm here?"_

Iruka shrugged. _"He's an enigma. I wouldn't read too much into it until he confronts us."_

"_I suppose,"_ Tez replied, but she didn't sound convinced. In fact, she sounded worried. Then she switched gears with a mental shake that Iruka could feel.

"_What I want you to do now,"_ she said, _"is to continue meditating. You need to get all of your chakra into the box and be able to shut the lid. That's going to help you conceal your magical signature from other ninjas. Then I want you to concentrate your chakra in a solid layer over your skin and make it as hard as you possibly can. And finally, if you can practice this exercise some more and try to use your power to change direction in midair would be perfect."_

Iruka nodded as he turned toward his apartment and started the trek back home. He was thinking about his assignments, and that brought up a few questions.

"_Tez, is this kind of chakra manipulation how you use your magic?"_ he asked.

"_Yeah,"_ she replied. _"When I was two I was started on meditation, although I'm pretty sure I didn't do it very well. When my teacher realized that I had a perfect memory she started packing my head with a lot of lore about magic and control and how to use it, but it was too advanced for me. I mean, come on! I was two for Christ's sake! I barely had the mental capacity to start a fire or levitate a pebble, both of which are beginner spells!"_

"_That's… different."_ Iruka thought. He knew that the clans started their children's education early, but he'd never heard of any child that young having the physical or mental capability to grasp basic ninja skills let alone casting jutsus. _"You must have been a genius."_

Tez did not seem to like that. In fact, she seemed a little irritated. _"I suppose technically I am a 'genius' but I don't like thinking of myself that way. So what if I could light a fire in the hearth when I was two? I didn't say a single word until I was almost four! My guardian when I was three used to throw me against the stone wall when I made a mistake in my lessons! My dad, who I lived with when I was four, was still so emotionally distraught over the death of my birthmother four years before that he was nothing but a husk who went through the motions of being a father to me and my siblings. _

"_I couldn't make the connection between the lessons my parents-slash-guardians taught me over the years and that stockpile of data shoved into my head when I was two until I was eight and witnessed Anya's death! If the cost of being a genius is having a crazy-difficult life, then I've paid in spades."_

Iruka felt the rage and despair emanate from Tez in waves. He also saw flashes of what must have been her life. They were gone before he could fully register each image, but each one looked brutal. Some were completely red with blood while others were filled with rubble and ruins. One or two were full of piles of dead and decaying corpses that had delicate gossamer wings. Iruka almost fell to the ground as a wave of despair washed over him.

Then the despair and anger was gone as if it had never existed. _"I'm sorry, Iruka, but that subject's a bit of a sore spot for me. I didn't mean to pelt you with my emotions."_

"_It's okay,"_ Iruka said numbly. _"I guess I see why you know a lot about chakra control, though, if you've been able to keep such strong feelings bottled up so tightly."_

Tez chuckled and Iruka realized that they were almost at his apartment. _"Well, I've never really been able to completely put a lid on my emotions. I have some friends who I depend on for my emotional stability. Actually, about a year ago I had a breakdown and beat up my best friend, and left the family that I had created. It was definitely a learning experience."_

That surprised Iruka. _"Why would you attack your team?"_ he demanded.

Tez's mood darkened and her mind drew away from him. _"I thought that I was drawing enemies to them and I wanted to get away. My best friend and right arm figured out what I was up to – it was going to happen soon and everyone knew it – and confronted me. He said a lot of truths that hurt. I wanted to hurt him as much as he was hurting me, so…"_ her voice trailed off and Iruka felt her shrug in embarrassment.

"_How are you doing now?"_ Iruka asked.

"_I'm okay,"_ Tez said. _"I'm repairing the ties I broke that day, but we're making progress. I just wish I could go to a therapist."_

"_Well, why can't you?"_ Iruka asked as he unlocked his door and made his way into his apartment. He didn't call out. There wasn't anyone who would answer, anyway.

"_I don't live in a magical city where everyone is like me,"_ Tez said in a sober voice. _"In fact, there is only one other person in existence who is a chimera like me. Chimera's are impossible to make, but my creator managed it twice. They always seem to die within a couple years. Worse than that, the human terrans of my planet – the people who were born without magic and think they rule the world – don't know about the magical species. And, to top it all off, because of all of my different roles and the fragmentation of my life, only the people in my chosen family know the whole story of who I am. None of them are psychologists."_

"_Can't you talk to your friends or something?"_ Iruka asked. It must be a very frightening place to not have the support system built in to help her when she needed. She must have been very lonely growing up, being only one out of two of her kind. Iruka couldn't even imagine the loneliness. He suddenly felt a rush of gratitude that he could go to the hospital any time to make an appointment with his shrink.

Tez only chuckled. _"We're too close. They need to get out of my head. It was fine when I was desperate for someone to lean on, but now I need to find a balance between comradeship, friendship, and individuality. And they need to become stronger as individuals. I think at this stage I'm stifling their development._

"_But anyway, this is a depressing topic. What's on the menu for breakfast?"_

Iruka sighed but accepted the change of subject. _"I only have time to make some onigiri before I have to leave for the academy. Are you going to stay in my head while I take a shower?"_ he asked with dread.

"_Iruka-sensei, honey, I have nine brothers, one of whom is a love god and seven of whom are probably closet nudists who had bets to see who could gross me out first by walking around the house naked. You don't got nothin' I've never seen."_

The academy teacher put the rice cooker on and went to take his shower. It felt strange at first to have his female companion watching out of his eyes, but the instant she saw his cock for the first time she sent images of every penis she had ever seen over to Iruka. There had to have been at least fifty of them! Some were larger and some were smaller, but it made Iruka calm down enough to laugh. She wasn't going to judge him. Actually, she didn't care.

"_I have fourteen birth parents, and in most of those couples there's at least one child besides me, even if in one of those families the other child is my uncle. Then, in my jobs as Chief Sage of Earth – Earth is the planet I'm from by the way – and as Queen of the Oceans and as a member of the Brazilian rain forest fairy tribe, I've seen a lot of bodies in varying degrees of dress from all over my world, my realm, and two other universes. As a healer and a great power wielder nothing is hidden from me."_ He felt her shrug. _"As far as I'm concerned a body is a body. It's the person inside the flesh that determines if a person is beautiful or ugly."_

"_How many jobs do you have?"_ Iruka asked as he began drying himself. He had a few minutes before the rice was ready, so he dressed quickly and sat down on the couch with a cold glass of water.

Tez took a lot time to respond. _"Iruka, my life is very complicated. I became the defender of my fairy tribe when I was seven, and it's been an upward battle ever since. Now I am one of the most powerful mages in the three universes, and the road I've been on has been long, twisted, and painful. Quite frankly, I would never be able to tell you the whole story during the few hours I have here each visit."_

"_You sound like Kakashi-sama,"_ Iruka grumbled. _"He became a Chunin at age five, if I remember correctly."_

"_You seem to know a lot about him. That's a figure I wouldn't bother to remember,"_ Tez said. _"Not that I'd really have a choice in the matter, though."_

Iruka shrugged. _"He's my Hokage. And he taught my favorite student several years ago. I did research on him when Naruto was first assigned to his team after he became a Genin. I wanted to make sure they were a good fit."_

"_Yeah, that's a very caring quality to give to one of your students, but you didn't have to remember it for this long."_

He shrugged again. _"It's always good to know the people around you."_

"_What a convenient excuse,"_ Tez said with humor in her voice. _"Anyway, it's time for you to check your rice."_

"_Oh, thank you Tez. Or should I call you Tez-sensei?"_

"_You know, Iruka, we dropped the suffixes a while ago. I vote we just keep it simple with our pure names. That's how we do it where I'm from."_

Iruka went to the rice cooker. Sure enough the rice was done. He poured the vinegar and sugar into it and mixed it, but just before he reached out to touch it he felt some chakra that didn't belong to him slip from his body and sink into the rice. The chakra felt cool, like a windblown liquid earth that was calming on his skin despite the fact he couldn't actually feel it.

"_I need to practice using my power while in your body. Someday soon when I feel brave enough I'm going to try to pop my soul out of your body and walk around skinless. Then, after that, Aggie said I have to pull my body through so you and I can meet face-to-face. How would you like that?"_

Iruka stopped forming the rice balls with his hands as he thought about that. _"You know, there's a certain amount of safety in not knowing what you look like. I'm kind of comfortable with how things are."_

Tez sighed. _"Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm nowhere near ready to show you any of my faces. It's almost like an internet relationship, what we have right now."_

"_What's an internet?"_Iruka asked.

He could feel Tez face palm in his head. _"Oh, yeah, you're technologically backward. I forgot."_

"_What? No I'm not!"_

"_Yes you are! You guys have televisions, but when I went walkabout in the village a few days ago I didn't see a single car! I saw plenty of horses and wagons, but not a single motorized vehicle! I also saw some old com systems with relatively modernized headsets, but not a single telephone! You guys have very slow forms of communication!"_

"_We do not!"_ Iruka defended. _"What we have works for us!"_

Tez sighed but backed off. It wasn't her place to comment, really. She was just a visitor. _"Well, whatever. Are you going to eat your rice or pack it so tight it becomes a rock?"_

Iruka looked down at the ball in his hand and stuck a pickled plum into its back. _"How long are you going to stay?"_ he demanded.

"_How long until you eat?"_ she retorted.

Snorting, Iruka took a bite. The rice was pleasantly cool, probably a result of the spell Tez had cast when he felt her signature.

"_I like the way you make rice. It tastes pretty good."_ Tez said tentatively.

Iruka took the peace offering as it was meant and said, _"You don't have onigiri where you're from?"_

"_We do. A country called Japan has a lot of similar foods and habits as you guys here, and I think you share a language actually, but my family roots are mostly from the other side of the world. Going out to sushi is a big treat for us because it involves actually going to Japan and visiting the Demon Onsen. But actually, I was trying to give you a compliment."_

"_Oh,"_ Iruka thought. They had demons? Were they anything like the Nine-tailed fox? It probably wasn't since they went there to enjoy a meal. Was it a civilian – terran? – establishment then?

"_Well, it's time for me to go back home. I'll see you again in a few days."_

Iruka nodded and wished Tez a farewell just as he felt her leave.


	7. Chapter 6

_Chapter Six_

Over the next few weeks Iruka's life seemed to fall into a new routine. In the morning he would wake up early and meditate. He'd discovered the first time he had started a regular meditation regime years before that he always had too much energy afterward, so he couldn't practice too late or else he'd never get to sleep. Besides, the exercises Tez gave him always left him with a surplus of chakra that inevitably came in handy during his day at the Academy.

Speaking of which, that was going much better. Because he had more energy, Iruka was able to devote more energy to his class so he spent less time disciplining them and more time actually teaching. As a result, the students were more engaged in their lessons and spent less time trying to avoid class. The class was moving along nicely again and Iruka managed to put his chakra training to use when helping his students with ninjutsu training.

After his time at the Academy, Iruka would go to work for Kakashi. True to the Hokage's word these shifts rarely ran late because they had very few papers and forms to redo. The hours felt short and the time usually flew by before Iruka knew it. And it always felt like they managed to accomplish something, which was a nice change.

Usually afterword Kakashi took Iruka out to dinner. The first few times they went to Ichiraku's, but when Kakashi got tired of ramen they started branching out into barbeque and sushi, which was just fine with Iruka. He liked ramen a ton, but sometimes it was nice to eat something different. Talking together in a non-professional capacity had started out as awkward, but as the days passed and eating together became ritual the conversation began to flow.

Then after dinner Iruka would go to the training grounds to work on the physical part of Tez's lessons. Usually Kakashi came with him and gave him advice, but oftentimes the Hokage left him to his own devices. Iruka figured that Kakashi only came to the practices in hopes of seeing Tez, but of course it never happened. Although, several times Tez did pop in during these sessions.

That was one thing Iruka could never get used to: the randomness of the times Tez popped in. Usually it was in the late afternoons or evenings, but sometimes it was the morning. But it was never the same time twice in a row! And there was no pattern, just a random set of times and dates. Sure she was polite and warned him of her presence before she started talking to him, but it was still very disconcerting the time she showed up when he was jerking himself off.

Needless to say, that hadn't gone off as well as he'd hoped. The whole rest of her visit was awkward as hell, too.

The training itself was progressing nicely. By the time three weeks had passed Iruka could form a chakra barrier that could withstand not only physical attacks, but a few chakra attacks as well. He could move and manipulate the shield a little, but not enough to actually be able to use it as body armor during a fight. He could, however form the shields in an instant, and use them strategically during a fight.

He was also becoming faster. After the first week Tez assigned him some drills to practice every day before he worked on his new assignments. The drills pushed him to not only move with greater speed, but also to react faster to attacks. The drills were basic things, like running and performing basic attack and defense routines, which conditioned his body to remember the movements so that when he was attacked he could respond appropriately before his brain could catch up.

Despite how well the training was going Iruka didn't feel that he was improving nearly as much as he needed to. He was skilled with shadows and illusions, but he needed to learn how to turn his chakra into two different elements if he wanted to be a true Jounin and not a tokubetsu Jounin. Sure there was a certain prestige in being an expert in something, but it just wasn't what he was going for. Technically, shadows and illusions weren't elements, either.

Iruka sighed as he walked out to the training field. He needed to have another talk with Tez. He needed to figure out which direction he wanted to go in during his training and he needed her help to do it. He'd been going around in circles thinking about it, but he'd realized a long time ago that he really wasn't drawn to any element in particular.

Tez, however, had already told him that her magical focus was split into four: she had power over earth, air, fire, and water. She could also heal and had a special bond with plants. They'd managed to do a lot more talking since that first bonding conversation, but very little of it had been about the future of Iruka's training. He'd learned a little about her family – as huge, complicated, and twisted as it was – as well as about her friends and the people directly involved in her life, but they hadn't discussed about her role in the magical world since that one time a few weeks ago.

She wasn't the only one who shared things. Iruka had told Tez about how ninjutsu worked and all of the different kinds. He'd also told her about Naruto and the Nine Tailed fox. She'd listened carefully and quietly through the whole thing before she'd asked, _"So, why didn't you just adopt him?"_

Iruka had been flabbergasted. He'd never even thought of it, to be honest. Then Tez had told him about how she had taken her first – and youngest – son away from his mother when he, Jason, was six years old because the woman had refused to get his autism treated. Then her second son had been thrust on her by her king-god of an uncle (she really didn't seem to like him much, or that whole pantheon she was related to), and the eldest she had taken in because no one else could handle him. _"I wouldn't give them up for the world!"_ was the last thing she said on the matter.

However, sometimes Iruka wondered how much Tez liked her life. Whenever he asked her she would sidestep the question and bring up something else. He managed to glean a few things, though. She was clearly powerful and well positioned in the magical government. She had three kids whom she loved. And, most recently, he learned that she could not only use four out of the five elements, but she had had passed eight super-hard tests. Those tests were so hard that most people didn't even survive one of them.

He'd been thinking since that last visit that maybe he'd want to get involved in lightning and air jutsu. Kakashi could help him with the lightning when Tez wasn't there, and Naruto was always happy to show him his Rasengan. That way he'd be able to do more intensive training when Tez wasn't around.

He felt the shadows in his mind just before Tez said, _"Actually, you're already programmed for fire and water combo."_

"_What are you talking about?"_ Iruka asked.

"_Well, last time I was here you said that only certain people were genetically predisposed to use jutsus that combined two or more different elements at once. The first time I came by when you were super exhausted I saw you use a jutsu to warm up a container of cold food. That jutsu uses the fire element in conjunction with the water element already found in your food to heat everything."_

Iruka couldn't think. He was predisposed to use two elements together? His sensei must have known or else he wouldn't have taught him that heating jutsu. How come his parents hadn't told him?

"_Dude, you need to chill. Anxiety isn't good. You may really start hallucinating one of these days, then where will you be?"_ Tez teased. _"Although, seriously, I have something good to tell you!"_

"_Oh?"_ Iruka asked, intrigued. Tez never had news. She wasn't a very newsy person.

"_I'm awake now!"_ she announced with a drum roll. She'd started using audio affects sometimes a few visits ago. Iruka wasn't sure he really appreciated them. _"I can come here whenever I want and stay for as long as I want. That way I can train you properly!"_

And she could concentrate on her assignments properly, too, Iruka thought. She'd been trying to use her magic, but she rarely brought enough chakra with her to effectively cast anything too complicated. She had successfully blended her power with Iruka's and used that, but it tired him out more than he was willing to accept. Apparently he felt it more when his chakra was used by someone else than when he used it himself. It would explain why he was more tired when she used less of his chakra for a spell than when he cast a similar jutsu.

"_Is that why you decided to pop in just when I was on my way to the training field?"_ Iruka asked, drawing his mind back to the present.

"_Yep! I'm happy I timed it so well, actually. It be midnight over here. I let everyone around me know that I need some 'me' time, so we shouldn't be interrupted."_

"_Great!"_ Iruka said as he turned off the path and toward the clearing he usually trained in. _"We need to talk."_

"_Oh, no, are you pregnant?"_ Tez demanded with a smile in her voice. _"You know we girls should always use two forms of birth control at all times!"_

"Shut up!" Iruka said aloud, temporarily forgetting in his irritation that Tez could hear his thoughts. "I'm gay, not a girl!"

"_Well, you know what they say: we girls need to stick together!"_

Iruka rolled his eyes but started his warm-ups without another word. It wasn't until he started the second set that Tez broke the silence.

"_So, what did you want to talk to me about?"_

"_I was just wondering what direction our training was going to go in now. I can't continue to grow with drills and practice exercises – I need someone to spar with. Kakashi-sama helps me with my training sometimes, but he isn't my sensei and it isn't his job anyway."_ Besides, technically it was illegal to attack the Hokage. In real life, though, it just felt wrong to actually fight with him.

"_Ah, you see, that's where phase two of my great plan comes in!"_ At that, Iruka felt a wave of power he couldn't control seep out of his body and move ahead of him. He stopped his movements and watched as a body appeared out of nowhere.

The form before him was male and about the same size as Iruka. It had dark brown hair that fell below its shoulder blades and was held together in a ponytail at the base of its neck. The jaw was square and the neck was thick, leading to strong shoulders and a strongly muscled torso. Its eyes flew open to reveal bright blue surrounded by darkly tanned skin.

"It's a mixed form I used a few times when the United States government wanted me to go undercover in the male half of a prison, and once when I went undercover as a drag queen in a club." The voice was deep. No one else Iruka had ever met had ever had a voice quite that rich. It was impossible!

"Are you sure you're really a girl?" he asked. The figure before him smiled and bowed mockingly.

"I'm definitely a girl. You can grope if you like."

Iruka backed away a step and held up his hands. "I don't feel like getting killed."

The figure walked up to Iruka, grabbed the poor man's hand – Iruka was completely frozen in place for fear of his sanity – and slid Iruka's hand into its crotch. True to her word, there was no penis there.

As Tez released Iruka's hand she said, "I'm still connected to you, since it's through your body that I'm still connected to my body so we can't get too far away from one another, but I don't foresee you being more than three miles away from me while we train anyway." Her voice was a little lighter, but still very low, almost as if she weren't pushing her voice down quite as much. Maybe it was a strain keeping her voice at such a low bass?

"Well, that was awkward," Iruka said. He fingered the scar on his nose in agitation.

"In that case, think fast!" Tez shouted as she threw a punch. Iruka barely managed to dodge it when he saw Tez's leg coming in from below. Damn, she was fast! He barely managed to block the kick before she spun around and threw another kick at him. Iruka ducked the kick and lunged forward with a punch that Tez grabbed. She pulled his fist and planted a quick kiss on his cheek just as her fist connected with his solar plexus and knocked the wind out of him. Only then did she back off.

"I'm glad you turned your defense into an offense. That was some very quick thinking! But you don't want to put so much of your weight forward into an attack because it's easy to throw your balance off. Keep your center, or come in with a secondary attack immediately after so that if they do pull, you get 'em."

Iruka nodded and lunged in at his sensei. She blocked with her strong arms and tried to grab, but Iruka's leg was no longer there. Instead, his fist was aimed directly at her face. She barely managed to get her hand up in time to block, but her head had already been ducked down as she came in with another uppercut aimed at Iruka's stomach. Iruka dodged to the side with a spin and he brought his leg up in an axe kick only to have his balls poked.

"What the hell?" he asked as he took a couple steps back with his hand over his crotch.

Tez shrugged. "You left an opening, and a true enemy doesn't fight fair."

They practiced taijutsu with rapid-fire movements for a good hour and a half. Tez always exposed a weakness in Iruka's defense, but she also told him how to compensate for it. Then, in the next round she would try to exploit the same weakness only to have Iruka prepared for it, and then she would move on with new movements. Part of Iruka's problem was that he hadn't sparred with anyone of his own level in a long time and he'd grown rusty. The rest was just that Tez was really good.

After taijutsu Tez had Iruka do some stretching. "Stretch whenever you can," she said. "It'll keep your muscles limber and flexibility increases the speed at which you can recover from getting hit during a fight."

"You do know that I know most of this, right?" Iruka asked.

She smiled bashfully. It was almost a cute look, despite the heavy masculinity of her face. "Sorry, I'm kind of used to training rookies who are very good at sparring, but have no actual experience."

"Yeah, me too," Iruka said between breaths. She'd run him ragged! Although this was to be expected: close quarters fighting takes more out of a ninja than hours of running. The extra energy gets pulled into the opponent when a strike is thrown.

"Anyway, to get on to some ninjutsu, can you do this?" Tez asked as she stepped up into thin air and crouched down, her feet hovering about two feet above the ground.

Iruka looked at her in amazement. "No, I can't."

"I've taught you how," she replied with a sly smile. She wasn't even breathing hard! "I'm just standing on a shield."

"Oh." He could do that. He constructed a shield away from his body just as she'd shown him and stepped on it.

"Now, I want you to try to move the shield around. You'll want to make sure your chakra flow is consistent and maybe picture your shield as a platform that moves like a flying carpet."

Iruka did as she said, but he felt his shield extend to the side instead of sliding over. He looked over at Tez and noticed that her eyes were glowing bright blue as she looked down at his feet.

"Maybe if you pulled your chakra out of the side that's staying there and moving it over with the platform it'll move," Tez said thoughtfully. Iruka tried it and started sliding around to his right. Then, just to see if he could do it, he tried moving the platform up in the same manner. It moved easily.

Then his chakra flow petered out and he fell to the ground. Fortunately he managed to land gracefully, years of training coming out to save him. Kami, he was so tired! So he started stretching again, but Tez called his attention.

"What I'd like you to do now is to create two shields, one above the other and over a little bit, and I want you to use that chakra push technique that I first taught you to push yourself from one shield to the other, kind of like the way you would jump from one wall to another to climb up between two really tall buildings." Then she demonstrated, making her scattered shields glow the same blue that her eyes had been gleaming earlier. Was that the color of her power when she used it?

One thing could be said for Tez: she was graceful. At first she did the exact exercise that she'd described, and then she conjured a few extra shields that she kept moving in a very complex pattern. She kept jumping from one to another, but she used attack moves as though she were fighting an invisible enemy. The shields she bounced off of were used not only to keep her airborne, but also as weapons to attack the enemy and as shields to protect her from thrown weapons. Iruka was impressed, not only with the taijutsu, but with the fact that Tez kept no less than five shields moving in five distinct patters, from which she deviated constantly.

After several minutes of amazing airborne acrobatics, Tez took one of her shields and wrapped it around an imaginary figure and landed softly on the ground. Iruka burst into applause along with another pair of hands. Tez took a quick bow as Iruka turned to see Kakashi leaning on a tree behind him.

"That was very good," Kakashi said as he stood up from the tree. He walked forward and said, "I don't think we've met."

"We haven't," Tez replied. "You can call me Tez. I'm helping Iruka to become a Jounin."

"He'll certainly make it in time if you continue teaching him," Kakashi said with a large, obviously fake smile. "I'm just surprised that a shinobi of your talents and distinct appearance hasn't come to my attention before."

Iruka could smell the tension in the air. Why was Kakashi being so aggressive? His words may have been polite, but his tone was sharp and his posture was stiff, not at all like his normally relaxed composure. He was normally such a laid-back man, even with strangers and other Jounin he'd never met before.

"Well, you and I have met before," Tez said. "I just don't normally look like this. Usually I take the form of a woman." Then, suddenly, her voice changed. It went up in pitch and became the same voice that Iruka had been hearing in his head for the past month or so. "Perhaps this voice sounds familiar?"

Kakashi shook his head, not looking bothered by the sudden change in the least. Tez turned and winked at Iruka. Clearly she'd meant for him to recognize her voice. After all, she had been in Iruka's body when she'd spoken to Kakashi that one time, so the Hokage would have heard Iruka's voice and not Tez's.

"Well, anyway, I'm not interested in Iruka. He's nice and everything, but I've got my own life and that only currently involves Iruka and our training. Speaking of which," she turned to Iruka. "Try manipulating the shields. Moving them, jumping around on them – basically incorporating them into a fight. Some of the best defensive moves become the best offensive moves. Also, I want you to work on that warming jutsu and see if you can make it bigger. Tomorrow we'll see what we can burn with it, and maybe try some water manipulation."

With that Tez's body disappeared. There was no puff of smoke or brush of leaves like a normal teleportation jutsu, just one moment she was there and the next she was gone. Clearly she didn't know what a teleportation jutsu was supposed to look like, otherwise she would certainly have made it appear normal. Then he felt her chakra retract into his body the moment before she said, _"Mind if I watch the show, though?"_

Iruka sighed. _"Whatever."_ Aloud, he said, "She's a bit… different."

"I noticed," Kakashi said. He still looked tense.

Iruka smiled, but didn't do anything. Instead he said, "She doesn't understand proprieties. She shouldn't have said that stuff about not being interested in me. I think she just misunderstood a few things and felt…"

"She didn't misunderstand," Kakashi cut in.

Iruka stopped mid-sentence and froze. "What?" his voice asked. Tez had pushed in and taken control of his voice, he realized, but he was still too frozen to push back and try to retake control.

"You heard me," Kakashi snapped in a very non-Kakashi-type manner. "I've been courting you for weeks, trying to get you to like me enough so I could confess my feelings for you, and then he came around…"

"He's a she," Tez made Iruka mumble, but Kakashi plowed right over him as if he hadn't heard.

"…and I saw the admiration in your eyes and…"

"Kakashi-sama!" Iruka shouted, finally regaining control. Kakashi snapped his mouth shut, but kept glowering at Iruka. Iruka made himself calm down before he said, "Kakashi-sama, Tez is a girl. She chose that form because we were evenly matched in size, but she's actually a girl. That's all. She's a decent friend and an amazing instructor, but nothing romantic could ever happen between us."

"What about me?" Kakashi demanded. "Could you ever be romantic with me?"

Iruka thought about it for a few moments. He didn't want to say anything too hasty. Kakashi _was_ hansom. He was powerful and of very high status even before he was chosen as Hokage. He was a good ninja, even if he was a bit juvenile and harsh. Women and men alike always threw themselves at his feet in the hopes of just having a simple date with the man. _"His aura is also compatible with yours,"_ Tez cut in. Obviously she was keeping tabs on his thoughts again.

"I guess I could," Iruka said. "Honestly, I've never even thought about it."

Kakashi seemed to relax at that. He even smiled. "Well, that makes things a bit easier!"

"How so?" Iruka asked.

"Well, I don't have competition! How would you like to go out on a date with me?"

What was that? The Hokage was asking Iruka, a Chunin, out on a date? Did Hokage's date? Was Kakashi gay? More importantly: what was the right answer?

"Um, sure?" was what he said.

Kakashi's smile turned into a flat-out grin. "Great! I'll meet you in front of Ichiraku's at Noon on Sunday. See you tomorrow!" Then with a wave and a swirl of leaves he was gone.

"_Now that that is out of the way we can work on this shield technique, and then we can move on to teleportation jutsu. You said before that you sucked at it."_ Tez said in an amused tone.

With a sigh Iruka returned to his training. Clearly he wasn't finished yet.


	8. Chapter 7

_Chapter Seven_

Iruka heard his alarm go off and eventually managed to dredge up the energy to hit the snooze button. Tez had kept him training for another four hours after Kakashi left. He didn't know where he got it, exactly, but every time he stretched Iruka found he had a little bit more chakra. The bitch – sorry, her name is Tez – wouldn't leave until he mastered that shield technique and was completely out of chakra.

They never did get around to teleportation jutsu.

Afterword, Iruka was too tired to walk home. He couldn't stand and barely managed to keep awake. Tez came out of his body – he could feel the chakra leave even though he couldn't use it – to pick him up and carry him home.

Her arms felt strange, though. They were very strong and held him firmly, but they were too small to have belonged to the form she'd used throughout the evening to demonstrate techniques. And she held him to a chest which contained a pair of nice and fluffy pillows that men simply did not have. He couldn't open his eyes, but he felt soft hair sweep across his face when the wind blew.

He wasn't conscious when he returned home.

The alarm sounded again, and this time Iruka threw it across the room. It stopped, but now he needed to pee. So he dragged his body up out of the bed and headed for the toilet. That's when he noticed that he'd been changed into his pajamas.

Once he finished with the washroom Iruka went out to the kitchen only to find a note from Tez.

_Hey Iruka,_

_You were out when I brought you home last night. We overdid it a bit. Take the day off if you don't feel up to it, but you should still meditate after you eat breakfast. Make sure to eat some starch and a lot of green veggies, and I made a milk and honey mixture for you. It's probably separated by now, but you can heat it up in a pan, and remember to stir it constantly. DON'T LET IT BOIL! The sugar will help your body recuperate faster and the heat will help you absorb it into your system easier. _

_Anyway, take it easy today. And make sure to stretch! It sucks, but you won't increase your reserves unless you deplete them. Something about your body producing more energy for you to use once you've used it all, or something like that. We just have to be careful not to over-do it, is all. Don't worry, this was probably the most tired you're going to be from training for a while (a day at least!)_

_Take care_

Iruka groaned as he stood up and hobbled over to the fridge. Sure enough there was a milky mixture right there on the top shelf. Below it was a large platter filled with Okonomiyaki topped with peppers, onions, spinach, and tomatoes. One was set aside, topped with only tomatoes and the pancake part looked a little extra red as if it had tomatoes baked inside. Iruka figured that that one had been made specifically for Sasuke.

Speaking of which, he hadn't been to visit Sasuke in almost a week. He was past due.

A few days after that time Tez came for a visit when he was at the jail Iruka had gone back to visit the last Uchiha armed with his special tomato sushi. Sasuke had been very receptive to the food and had casually asked about Iruka's impromptu cement shoes, but Iruka could only shrug and say, "If I told you, you'd think I was nuts." Sasuke had grudgingly dropped the subject, but they'd managed to continue talking.

Actually, Sasuke was starting to look a lot better. His shrink, a very nice woman by the way, had agreed to see him and seemed to be doing a very good job. The bags under Sasuke's eyes had nearly disappeared and his face looked a lot less sunken with stress. He still looked too pale, but not being allowed outside for over two months and a quickly approaching trial for treason were two very good reasons for lacking color.

With his day pretty much planned out, Iruka sent a messenger hawk along with a brief excuse and one of his three pre-written doctor's notes, to the principal of the academy. Then he quickly heated up his Okonomiyaki for breakfast and started his meditation.

During a brief break the previous evening Tez had explained to Iruka that it was much easier to manipulate the elements if you already knew how to connect to them with chakra. She'd then described a new meditation – new to Iruka anyway – where he sent out a tendril of chakra just to explore the area around him in order to "see" the different elements without his eyes. The idea was that if he could feel how an element felt and could connect to it, it would then be easier to conger it and manipulate it with a jutsu.

It made sense, but when Iruka sat down and tried it he discovered a very different problem: he had no chakra. The little bit of chakra he managed to scrounge up during the next half hour felt weak and floppy in his grasp, so in the interest of self preservation he didn't use it. He didn't have a chance to try, anyway, because the messenger hawk returned with a reply from his principal saying that he had permission to take the day off.

Then there was a knock on Iruka's door. Curious, he went to open it only to see Kakashi standing on his doorstep.

"Kakashi-sama, what brings you here?" he asked as he stepped aside to allow the man in.

Kakashi stepped past him with a smile – and without answering, Iruka noticed – and removed his shoes while Iruka went into the kitchen to make some tea. By the time Iruka came back with the tea Kakashi was already seated on the couch with one of Iruka's novels open in his hands. When Iruka set the tea down in front of his Hokage the silver haired man closed the book and picked up a cup.

"I heard you weren't going in to the academy today. Is everything okay?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka sighed, but nodded. "I'm a bit overtired. I trained a little too long last night and now I don't quite feel up to dealing with hyperactive kids. I'm still coming into the office later, though."

Kakashi's smile brightened a little and he took a sip of tea through his mask. "I'm glad to hear that my confession last night didn't put you off," he said casually.

"Well, I still don't know what to say about that," Iruka admitted. "I trained very hard and haven't had a chance to think yet."

"Maa, there's no hurry. But you're still up for our date on Sunday?" Kakashi asked.

"I already said I would be there," Iruka mumbled into his cup uncomfortably. What had it been, three years since his last date? What were they going to do on their day out?

"Good," Kakashi said with a nod. "Although, I have to admit I came over here in order to talk to you about something very different."

"Oh?" Iruka asked, curious despite himself.

"I was wondering what you thought about Sasuke?" Kakashi asked between sips. "This is very good tea."

"Thank you, Kakashi-sama," Iruka said, taken aback by the abrupt question. He'd just been thinking about the poor boy a few minutes ago and now Kakashi was asking about him? What a strange coincidence.

"I only ask because as Hokage I'll be presiding over his trial, and as my assistant I'm going to ask that you act as secretary and record the proceedings. As such, I won't be able to call you as a witness and I know you have an opinion on this."

Iruka snorted. The Konohagure judicial system was inherently flawed. The Council called in witnesses privately to gather as much information as possible beforehand – with the Hokage present, of course – and made their recommendations to the Hokage before the official trial. Then, during the trial the charges would be read, the events surrounding the incident would be recited, and the accused would be given one last chance to defend their position before the verdict and sentence would be announced. The trial itself was nothing but a show of propriety since everything else had already been done in private. Iruka had, in fact, already given his testimony earlier that week.

"Sasuke's had it rough," Iruka said simply. "Although he certainly deserves punishment for desertion, I think he's already suffering for his decisions. Honestly, I don't think he would have allowed us to capture him if he didn't want to come back. He's kind of an all-or-nothing sort of character, if you know what I mean."

Of course Kakashi did. If Sasuke had truly wanted to evade capture he would have either escaped or died trying. He certainly wouldn't be in the precarious position he was in now.

"There is also something to be said for his actions," Kakashi said. "He did destroy Sound, which we had been trying to do, and he is a very talented shinobi."

Iruka didn't answer right away. After a tense moment of thought he said, "You know, Kakashi-sama, it's very inappropriate for you to discuss this with me. I'm only your assistant, so it's not my place to discuss such serious matters and influence your decision."

Kakashi's eye widened in surprise and he leaned forward to set his teacup back on the coffee table. "Iruka, are you suggesting that you are not my friend?"

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm not! But even then it's still not appropriate to discuss this with me! Isn't it protocol that only the Hokage and the Council make the decision?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders before he said, "I can gather any evidence I deem necessary, so I'm gathering public opinion…"

"Lord Hokage, I'm going to stop you right there. Don't try to pull one over on me. I'm not stupid," Iruka said calmly before he took a sip of tea. "If you aren't sure you know what you want for Sasuke, you can just admit it. I promise not to tell anyone." Although Tez would certainly figure it out. Her sense of ethics was a bit skewed, and although she promised never to read his mind she did listen in on his thoughts from time to time.

"Oh, I already know what I'm going to do with Sasuke," Kakashi said. "The council's already agreed to it and I feel it's a fitting punishment. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to hate me for it."

"And…?" Iruka asked.

"I think you'll agree with my decision," Kakashi said casually as he picked his cup back up and drained it. Then he held it out to Iruka as asked, "May I have some more?"

Iruka rolled his eyes, but poured out more tea. "Why would you care what I think?"

"Because I like you, silly! I don't want you to hate me for something I did in my official capacity as Hokage."

Iruka froze and slowly turned his head to look at Kakashi. Had the Hokage just called him… silly? He'd never heard Kakashi use words like that before. Quickly he opened his awareness, but no, it was the real Kakashi. His chakra signature was the same. He was just being weird again.

"Kakashi-sama, don't you have to go to the office soon?" he asked in a deadpan voice.

Kakashi sighed. "Do I have to?"

"Yes you do! I did not bust my ass for a whole fucking month working three shifts so you can fucking slack off! Get to work, bitch!" He said it with a smile and a sarcastic tone, but the intent was still there. Kakashi got it, fortunately, and stood with a chuckle.

"I'll see you later, Iruka."

"Later, Kakashi-sama." Seriously, they had become friends during their three week… courtship.

It was kind of strange to think that he'd been courted. It was even stranger to think that he'd been courted and he hadn't even realized it. Of course he hadn't been looking for love. In fact, he hadn't been looking for love since Mizuki had betrayed him.

It wasn't like he was damaged or anything. He'd thought that Mizuki was a good man with a few issues that reared their ugly head every now and again. Then, when Mizuki had gone after Naruto and betrayed Konaha Iruka had felt hurt for a long time. The fact that he hadn't noticed what a bad apple Mizuki was still stuck in his craw, but it didn't reflect on his worth as a man. It just meant he had to be more careful who he invested himself into.

Now that he thought about it, he'd started taking on extra shifts at the Missions Office when he was still hurting from the betrayal. Maybe that had been his coping mechanism? It had certainly kept him too busy for a romantic relationship for the past few years. He'd also taken on even more work after Tsunade's death. Did he bury himself in work to avoid the pain in his life? He'd never noticed it before, but it seemed to be the start of a pattern.

He walked Kakashi to the door. "I'll see you later, Kakashi-sama."

"Enjoy your day off," Kakashi said with a wide smile before he left the apartment.

Iruka sighed and scratched his head. Kakashi was something else. He didn't know what else exactly, but he was definitely one strange cookie.

He went back into his living room to clear away the teacups when he noticed that the book Kakashi had been reading had something sticking out of it. He grabbed the book up and opened it to the little paper only to notice that there was something written in pencil on the little home-made bookmark.

_Second Paragraph. First Line._

What? Iruka looked down the right hand page to the second paragraph and smiled happily.

_Grace is the ultimate beauty, and there is nothing more beautiful than eyes made of chocolate._

So Kakashi liked his eyes and thought they were graceful? He definitely was a strange man! Either way, he smiled as he heated up the milk and honey mixture, drank his mild and honey mixture, ate his breakfast, and packed up to go visit Sausuke in jail.

* * *

><p>Iruka waited at the training field he always used. He'd been there for a few minutes, but he'd managed to get there early. Kakashi had let him off and he'd gotten a bite to eat by himself for the first time in weeks. He'd forgotten how quickly he ate when he was by himself compared to when he had someone to talk to. He couldn't help it, though. Kakashi had been dragged off by a couple of Anbu just as they'd reached the restaurant.<p>

With an unfurling of invisible wings Iruka knew his dark passenger was back. _"You seem to be recuperating pretty well,"_ was the first thing she said after looking through his eyes.

Iruka smiled. _"I had a pretty good day."_

"_Oh? What made it so good?"_

Iruka replayed his day quickly in his mind, and Tez took a quick shuffle through it. _"I'm glad Sasuke liked his pancake. And what a sweet compliment! What are you going to do to return it?"_

"_What?"_ Iruka asked, completely flummoxed.

"_Oh, come on Iruka! I can tell you're tickled that he said you have graceful eyes. You have to do something sweet back! It's, like, Karma or something."_

"_Karma?"_ He hadn't thought of doing anything sweet in return. Kakashi didn't seem to be expecting anything, if his behavior that afternoon had been anything to go by. He'd been pretty normal, although Iruka never realized how cordial Kakashi had become since he started working for him. He was actually downright polite to Iruka whereas whenever they had met before Kakashi had barely even noticed the Chunin. Strange… he hadn't been aware of the change.

"_Well, since you like him I figured that turnabout was fair play,"_ Tez said casually.

"_Wait, what? I like him?"_ Iruka asked, stunned. He hadn't really come to any conclusions about that all day.

"_Dude, you wouldn't be this giggly over a compliment you received ten hours ago if you didn't like him,"_ Tez replied.

Iruka thought about that for a minute. She was right, of course. If he didn't care about Kakashi's opinion he wouldn't have been happy and soppy about it for more than maybe an hour afterwards. It seemed he was emotionally invested in Kakashi at the very least.

"_Anyway, I promised to help you with your teleportation jutsu last night, but we never got around to it. How about we start that, if you aren't too busy being all giggly."_ Tez asked a little tersely.

"_What's got your panties in a knot?" _Iruka asked defensively. It wasn't like Tez to snap at him. Usually she was careful to conceal any emotion from her day, but for some reason she was being really emotive.

Tez sighed. _"Sorry. My son Jason got in a fight at school and was suspended, so I'm a bit upset today. I haven't had a problem like this in… um… three years I think?"_

That explained a lot. She'd told him about some of the problems Jason had when she'd first adopted him eight years before. He would get very frustrated at being unable to communicate his desires, so he would throw temper tantrums and fling his powers around, hitting anyone within range. Tez would have to hold him until he calmed down enough to listen, and then she was able to teach him some techniques for when his autism gave him a rough time.

With that in mind, Iruka knuckled down and got to work.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: I wanted to thank everyone who has sent me a review. I really appreciate hearing your opinions of my writing, and I hope you continue to send me your thoughts. This chapter was a little awkward and I apologize for it, but I needed to set up for some things that will happen in the next few chapters and I couldn't think of a graceful way in which to do it. So I'm sorry for the sub-standard writing and thank you for bearing with me :D<em>


	9. Chapter 8

_Chapter Eight_

Iruka woke up on Sunday with a large case of butterflies in his stomach. He muddled his way through breakfast and making that awful milk and honey mixture to get dressed for his day. The milk crap, as he called it, worked its magic on his chakra reserves. When he did his meditation after eating instead of before, he was, in fact, able to rebuild most of his used chakra.

The sensing meditation was going better because of it, too. He could feel a slight difference between solids and liquids through his chakra, but he couldn't sense air at all. It just felt like empty space. When he tried meditating in front of a candle, though, he'd somehow managed to snuff out the flame.

Tez had laughed at him when he'd told her the previous evening. Once she managed to calm down – she didn't need to get that hysterical – she explained that because he was so depleted of energy he had sucked the power from the flame into his body. He didn't feel the difference because a candle only produced a little energy, and he'd sucked it in so fast that it could no longer support a flame. Apparently that was normal when a mage was starting such strenuous training.

It was abnormal for a ninja.

At least she'd admitted that she was putting him through the ringer. Iruka didn't know what he'd do if she hadn't. He couldn't skip training even if he wanted to. Tez was one teacher he couldn't play hooky from what with her being in his head and all.

They were blowing through material faster than a hound on a hunt, though. Each night, it seemed, she would show him a new technique and wouldn't leave until Iruka mastered it. Then, just like with the taijutsu training they did every session, she would start the next training session off with the techniques from the previous night as a review. In just under a week Iruka had mastered Shield Jumping and Moving, Teleportation, and Nuking.

Nuking was the skill that Tez and he had invented together. Basically, Iruka performed the Food Warming Jutsu, only he did it with a few extra hand seals which allowed him to target a living organism to cook them from the inside-out.

He felt horrible practicing on living things, especially when he accidentally burned down a tree, so Tez had conjured animal puppets to practice on. They were made like living animals, but they weren't actually alive. Because they were puppets they didn't scream or feel pain, but because they had meat and blood it took several hours of intense practice and adjustments for Iruka to be able to make them burst into flame. Even then he'd only managed it twice before Tez called off the practice due to Iruka's chakra depletion.

They'd also added another component to their practice: incorporating taijutsu with ninjutsu. Tez gave Iruka some technique combinations to practice, like running at her and then teleporting behind her in order to attack her unprotected back, which allowed the Chunin to practice a whole new style of fighting. These were techniques he had already been using at first, but then she started incorporating the new jutsus into it. Needless to say, this part wasn't the focus of the training. At least, it wasn't the focus yet. Eventually they would have to start sparring for real.

Tez's puppet – for that's what the male body she usually possessed was – only ever sparred with Iruka when they were practicing taijutsu. The only time it used power was when it was demonstrating something. He could remember the trepidation on Tez's face the first time she teleported. Apparently she hadn't been certain that she would be able to pull it off without being forced back to her real body or being sucked into the void. Facts like that made Iruka appreciate the risks Tez took to teach him her magic.

In fact, Tez had offered to take the evening off so Iruka could enjoy his date, which surprised Iruka. She'd popped in on Sundays before, but that had been before she could pop over at will. Apparently Sunday was the day she normally took for herself. The rest of her week she generously donated her time to her five most important jobs – defending her fairy tribe, being queen of the ocean, leading her vampire clan, taking care of her herd (whatever _that_ meant), and keeping the peace of her planet as Chief Sage – but she always made sure to leave a day free that she could devote to her children and herself.

Iruka thought that he should really take a page out of her book. Even with reading on his lunch break Iruka barely had time for himself these days. In fact, that was the only reason he hadn't cancelled the date despite his growing nerves. He didn't need to volunteer at the Missions Office on his days off anymore, anyway, since they'd had the latest Chunin exams and had added a few new ninja to their staff. He did, however, need to get out to do something fun with someone else. A date with his Hokage did exactly that.

Although, right then he was seriously starting to think that getting drunk at a bar with Izumo and Kotetsu was a good idea. He wouldn't be this nervous hanging out with his closest friends. He hadn't really seen them much since Lady Tsunade died, so he should spend at least _some_ time with them. He usually spent his Sundays grading papers and sleeping or covering extra shifts at the Missions Office. Causing a ruckus with those two phlegm wads was much more fun!

Iruka quickly checked the time and made his way out onto the street. Sundays were usually busy. All of the academy students had the day off, and usually ninja with clerical jobs did, too. Not to mention all of the ninja who were between missions and the civilians who didn't have to work that day. As a result the streets were crowded, causing Iruka to jump up to the roof in order to make it to Ichiraku's on time.

He needn't have bothered. Kakashi was late, as usual. He decided to get in line and wait, and if Kakashi didn't make it by the time it was his turn then he'd just eat without him. No matter how much of an honor it was to eat with his Hokage, and it really didn't matter that Iruka was willing to admit he liked spending time with Kakashi, Iruka wasn't about to starve waiting for him to show up.

And if Kakashi got lost on the road of life again he knew it would be at least a four hour wait anyway.

Amazingly enough, Kakashi showed up just as Iruka became the first person in the line. When Teuchi noticed the Hokage waiting with Iruka he immediately started apologizing, but Kakashi waved him off with a quick line about how he'd already used the authority of his high office to cut in line. It would be a true abuse of power if he booted someone off their stool before they could eat their lunch.

Then he'd turned to Iruka, who hadn't noticed him standing there until Teuchi had called attention to him, and kissed him on the cheek through his mask. Iruka felt the blood rush to his face, but he wasn't quite sure why. Did he really like Kakashi, or was he just embarrassed at the public display of affection? Probably a bit of both, he admitted to himself as a pair of seats became available in the booth.

Without prompting Teuchi presented Iruka with his usual bowl of pork miso ramen before taking Kakashi's order. As he left to prepare the bowl Iruka inquired as to if Kakashi had managed to complete everything he'd needed to in the office the day before.

"You know, Iruka-sensei, I didn't ask you out on a date to talk about work," Kakashi said with a broad smile. "Tell me, what's your favorite flower."

"What?" Iruka asked in confusion. What a strange question!

"I want to know what your favorite flower is," Kakashi said calmly as his ramen was placed before him. "It's just making conversation."

Iruka, in a procrastinating move, shoved as many noodles into his mouth as he could. "I like lilies, I guess," he said after he swallowed.

"You don't look like a lily kind of guy," Kakashi said, inspecting Iruka with his one visible eye. "I would have pegged you as more of a chrysanthemum kind of guy."

Iruka looked at Kakashi out of the corner of his eye. Seriously, did he look like he liked chrysanthemums? Was Kakashi crazy? "You look like a chrysanthemum kind of guy," he returned around a bite of noodles.

"Really?" Kakashi asked. "I would have thought I looked more like a cherry blossom guy, although I really like peach blossoms the best."

"I never would have guessed," Iruka said, impressed. He'd never seen a guy who would admit to liking flowers. Most were too macho to admit to a softer side. Iruka, on the other hand, loved flowers. He went to the Yamanaka flower shop at least once a week to get a couple of bouquets for his apartment. Maybe, if he was ever able to get a house, he would plant a peach tree? He'd love to have a garden, even if he didn't have any talent with growing things.

"Oh, I'm full of surprises," Kakashi declared with a smile. "The road of life is a very exciting place."

Iruka snorted. "Dude, everyone knows that your 'road of life' is a little spot directly in front of the memorial stone.

Kakashi didn't react. He stared down at his empty bowl – when had that become empty? Iruka hadn't been keeping an eye out for Kakashi's face, but he had been looking over at the older man as he ate. He hadn't even seen the man move to eat.

"I go to the memorial stone every day to talk with my friends," Kakashi said after a long moment of silence. "I miss them, and sometimes I long for them to be here. They'd have beaten me up a long time ago, but it wouldn't have taken me this long for me to find you. Rin would have set us up right after you challenged me at the Chunin exams."

"Why would she do that?" Iruka asked, intrigued despite himself. Normally they talked about work or their mutual students, but Iruka found himself sucked into the conversation.

Kakashi smiled. "Well, when she was alive she had this huge crush on me." He sounded super arrogant as he said that! "Just before the mission she died on, she'd figured out that I'm not into girls. I wasn't interested in much of anything at the time, really, but she realized that I had this huge crush on Obito. I didn't even realize it until I saw him die. I completely denied it when she confronted me before we left Konoha."

His look had turned introspective, as though he'd become lost in his thoughts. Iruka reached over and placed his hand over Kakashi's in as warm a way as he could. Kakashi gripped his hand briefly before shaking himself back into the present. "Anyway, I saw Rin set up some of her other friends, so I think that once she got over me she would have started playing matchmaker. And, since she liked the romance of two enemies becoming lovers despite the very opposite reality, I'm sure that she would have tried to set me up with you after you challenged me. Or she would have tried to put me with Gai a long time ago.

Iruka chuckled and let go of Kakashi's hand. "I can picture that. Of course, I think I'm going to go blind from the image, but the two of you would make such a… cute… couple." He drew out the last few words for effect. Apparently it worked since Kakashi turned toward him slowly, his only visible eye huge with horror and his jaw obviously dropped despite his mask. Iruka broke into his most charming smile and cocked his head to the side in his most cute – and disarming – look. "Just kidding!"

"Good," Kakashi said. "I've seen him naked before." He shivered with disgust at the memory.

"Why would you do that?" Iruka asked with amusement.

Kakashi shrugged, but refused to look Iruka in the eye. "We are –were – teammates on occasion. We're also good friends. I've gone to the hot springs with him and I've tended to a few of his wounds on the battlefield. Also…" this time the hesitation was palpable, "One time he did challenge me to see who had the larger dick."

"I'm assuming you won," Iruka said. "You always win the infamous Gai challenges."

Kakashi turned red and scratched his ear in his discomfort. "No, I lost. He's the green beast because he's huge."

Iruka felt his eyebrows climb up towards his hairline in amazement. "Seriously?"

"Just for the record, I have nothing to be ashamed of!" Kakashi defended. "He's just… I pity the women he's slept with. That's got to be painful."

With a laugh Iruka stood up, reaching for his wallet. Since they were both finished eating he figured that they ought to move aside to let someone else in line space to eat. He felt a hand on his elbow so he looked up just in time to see Kakashi throw some money on the counter. "Thank you, Kakashi-sama, but that's not necessary."

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, I invited you on the date! Therefore it is my job to pay for anything we buy. Should you invite me on the next date, then you get the dubious honor of paying. Agreed?"

What could Iruka say to that? "Um, thanks?"

"You are very welcome, Iruka-sensei! What shall we do next?"

"What do you mean?" Iruka asked. "We ate lunch. Isn't the date over?"

Kakashi just gaped at the brunette for a whole minute. "That was the start of the date, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi said seriously. "Now I figured we would go shopping or watch a movie or something."

"Oh." It just showed how naïve he was. With Mizuki they would go out to eat and then go back to one of their apartments to fuck. Other than that, they just hung out together a lot. It was really more of a casual relationship, only a touch more official than a sex-friends relationship. "I'm sorry; I haven't been out on many real dates, so I'm not exactly sure what's expected."

"Was there anything in particular you wanted to do today?" Kakashi asked as he led Iruka away from the ramen stand by the elbow. Iruka was surprised at how cold Kakashi's hand was on his bare skin. It felt pleasant on his own heated flesh, but he wasn't expecting it. He'd always assumed that they would give off the same body heat. He'd never noticed a difference between anyone else.

"Well, I was planning on stopping by the market to buy some food," Iruka said. "I can just do that later, though."

"No, we can go grocery shopping," Kakashi offered as he hauled Iruka off in that direction. "I need a few things, too. Then afterword we can drop your things off at your place and you can come over to my house. I'm sure my pack would love seeing you again."

Iruka perked up. He'd gotten to meet some of Kakashi's pack of ninja dogs during the Pein attack, but he hadn't had the chance to see them since. "I'd really enjoy that," he said.

"Great! Which stall do you want to go to first?"

Iruka set the last grocery bag on his kitchen counter and heaved a sigh of relief. Shopping with Kakashi had been more of an ordeal that he'd originally thought. It had started out easily enough: they'd quickly visited the merchants carrying the things Iruka needed and he had picked out his items with a speed which belied how used to the whole process he was. He'd been shopping for himself since he was eleven, for crying out loud! Of course he could pick out good tomatoes from the bad ones with just a brief glance!

Kakashi, on the other hand, was a mass of failure. Clearly he didn't go shopping on his own very much. In fact, he admitted that he usually had a pre-existing order with the local merchants and had his groceries delivered to him every week. Therefore, it took him a half an hour to pick out the vegetables he wanted. Then it took another ten minutes to pick out his meat – and only ten because Iruka lost it and chose for him. Iruka had then summoned a few clones to help carry all of the groceries back to his apartment.

Despite how infuriatingly slow Kakashi was at the market, however, he was kind. He had offered to pay for Iruka's groceries. Iruka had refused, though, on the grounds that these were his meals for the whole week and were his responsibility anyway. It didn't stop Kakashi from trying to pay, though. In the end they'd race to get their money on the counter in front of the clerks first. Iruka was happy that he won the speed contests more often than naught, much to Kakashi's obvious surprise.

It appeared that his training was already paying off!

Now he was home with all of his food in bags on his counter. He banished all of his clones except for one so he could put his things away faster. Once that was done he herded Kakashi out of his apartment and locked the door. The place was a little too messy to have such esteemed visitors – or any visitors, really. The place was a sty.

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, I was wondering what that tea was that you made for me the other day?" Kakashi asked once Iruka had stopped pushing him down the street and he had started walking under his own power again.

"Oh, you mean this?" Iruka asked as he pulled a box of teabags seemingly out of thin air. He'd hidden it up his vest when Kakashi wasn't looking just so he could do that. Kakashi didn't appear surprised, but then he wouldn't. Most ninjas tried to hide their surprise so that the enemy (or evil best friends) wouldn't realize when they'd pulled one over on him. "I got this for you the other day, actually," Iruka admitted, holding the box out to Kakashi. "It's a thank you for the compliment you left me when you dropped by."

After a brief hesitation Kakashi accepted the box. "You know, I didn't compliment you in order to get my hands on your… green tea?"

"Well, I figured," Iruka admitted. "That brand of green tea is a little different, actually. The shop owner only makes it for me since nobody else would buy it, but he adds vanilla leaves and a couple of matté leaves to broaden the flavor. I'm glad you liked it, though." He wasn't about to add that he'd only served it to the Hokage because he'd run out of all the other flavors he usually kept. He'd been desperate for a trip to the market for a while.

"Ah, this is me," Kakashi said as they stopped in front of a large house just on the outskirts of the town past Iruka's apartment. It was very large with the traditional sliding doors and wooden porches raised above the ground. "It's not nearly as grand as the Uchiha compound, but my family usually married into the other clans instead of staying localized here. I think that my blood ties to the other major clans got me my job as Hokage more than my skills as a ninja."

Iruka followed Kakashi into the main room of the house, being careful to take his shoes off before going inside. He sat down at the table while the other man quickly put his groceries away. In a moment Kakashi came out with a tray full of cups, but no pot of tea. "It'll be a few minutes for the water to heat up. I figured I'd call up Pakkun while we wait."

"Sure," Iruka said with a soft smile.

Kakashi quickly bit his thumb and performed the summoning jutsu. As he did it Iruka wondered if Pakkun would ever agree to be his summons as well, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Summoning wasn't really his thing, and training to be a Jounin was going to be tough enough without having to train for a summons as well. Tez was enough, even if she didn't count as a summons.

"What's up, boss?" asked a gruff voice as the smoke from Kakashi's jutsu dissipated. The little pug looked from Kakashi to Iruka and back again. "This doesn't look like an emergency or training."

"It isn't," Iruka said after it became clear that Kakashi didn't intend to say anything. "He summoned you so that we could have some tea and chat.

Pakkun's head swiveled to look at Kakashi with wide eyes. "This isn't what you do on a date, boss!" he whined. "You're supposed to be alone with your wannabe mate, not inviting your summons to…"

The pug would have continued scolding the Copy Nin, but Iruka had reached out and started scratching him behind his ears. Sure enough he had regressed into puppy mode and was soaking up the attention. Iruka chuckled and said, "I just wanted to say thank you for helping to save me that time."

"It's no problem," Pakkun said as he rolled onto his back so Iruka could scratch his stomach. "Kakashi really seems to like you, and we didn't want to see him hurting over you."

"I doubt that," Iruka said. "We barely knew each other then."

Pakkun rolled off of his back and looked up at Iruka with the most curious look. Iruka couldn't identify it, but the pug seemed to be searching him for something. "Sometimes you can just tell when two people are meant to be mates."

At that point a whistle came from the kitchen and Kakashi disappeared into the adjoining room only to reappear moments later with a pot full of steaming water. He set the pot down in the middle of the table with the cups – and bowl for Pakkun – and returned to his seat. "Well, I guess I did kind of like you back then. More accurately, I suppose you could say I was interested in you. You know, aside from Naruto you are the only person to openly disagree with me since the Fourth Hokage died."

"Really?" Iruka asked, impressed. That's a lot of people to say yes when they really meant no.

Pakkun nodded. "He didn't like the false respect, but since he's right a lot I guess it makes sense. He just liked you're balls."

"Well, he was right that time, too," Iruka muttered.

Kakashi grinned at him and reached forward. "So, now that you know how I feel, what do you think about me?"

"Boss!" Pakkun barked. "Don't ask Iruka-sensei that! The pup doesn't have to tell you until he's ready to…"

"It's all right, Pakkun," Iruka interjected smoothly with another pet behind the pug's ears. "He can always ask whatever he wants. It doesn't mean I'll answer if I don't want to."

"But, Iruka-sensei, you're too polite. Of course you'll answer, and you'll also say whatever you think Kakashi wants to hear. You're too nice like that!" Pakkun said with a whine.

"No he doesn't," Kakashi said defensively. He glanced briefly at Iruka but quickly turned his glare back on the pug. "For your information, he's the only Chunin the Jounin have any respect for, and he's the only one on desk duty they allow to yell at them when their reports aren't completed correctly."

"You know, Kakashi-sama, until recently that included you," Iruka said with a wry smile.

Kakashi grumbled something unintelligible as he reached for the pot to pour the tea. He handed one cup to Iruka while he placed a saucer on the floor for Pakkun. Nimbly the little pug took a few polite laps at his bowl while the humans sipped from their cups. It was the tea Iruka had given Kakashi just a few moments before.

"Nice tea," Iruka said with a little smile. "I wonder where you got it."

Kakashi shrugged, but didn't say anything.

Conversation flowed easily while Pakkun was there. Iruka got the low-down on the rest of the pack. Kakashi really didn't say much while Pakkun was there. He seemed content to simply listen in while Pakkun did most of the chatting. After a while Pakkun decided to go back to his home, so with a little lick to Iruka's hand he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"He likes you," Kakashi said.

Iruka smiled. "I like him, too."

"But seriously, do you like me?" Kakashi asked seriously. He looked almost… anxious.

Iruka shrugged. "I do like you," he said casually. "I respect you as a ninja and as my Hokage and I certainly enjoy your company, but I'm not too sure if I like you romantically. Before you asked me out I hadn't even thought about it."

"Do you think you could like me romantically maybe someday?" Kakashi asked. He looked like a little puppy looking for someone to give him loves.

Impulsively Iruka crawled around the table and gave Kakashi a quick peck on the lips over his mask. "Let me put it this way, I'm already halfway to being able to give that a question a definite yes."

Kakashi leaned forward and kissed Iruka back, much longer this time. When they parted he said, "That's all I'm asking for right now."

It was such a sweet thing to say, Iruka found himself leaning in for another kiss when he found that his lips didn't meet mask, but this time they met skin. His eyes flew open and he started to lean back in shock when Kakashi's hand grabbed his head and pulled him back in so the older man could deepen the kiss. Iruka felt a tongue on his lips gently asking for admittance, so he opened his mouth.

And, oh. My. Gawd. He could taste the tea in Kakashi's mouth. It tasted differently than the aftertaste lingering on his own tongue – a little richer and a little smoother. And Kakashi knew how to kiss. Their tongues danced in and out of their mouths gracefully, and for once Iruka noticed that the other tongue in his mouth didn't feel slimy at all. It felt… nice.

They held the kiss for a time before breaking apart. Both Iruka and Kakashi were panting a little hard. Kakashi backed off slowly, as if he needed to give himself some space. Iruka certainly needed it. He was about one second from jumping forward and tearing Kakashi's shirt off. Damn that man was handsome beneath his mask!

"I was thinking," Iruka said when it became clear Kakashi wasn't going to say anything. In fact, Kakashi's eye was looking around the room as if searching for something to say. "Do you want to meet up at my place next week? I'll make us some dinner and we could watch a movie."

Kakashi grinned and Iruka was dazzled by white teeth. "That would be wonderful!"

"Good. It's a date."


	10. Chapter 9

_Chapter Nine_

"_So, how was the date?"_ Tez demanded without even forewarning Iruka of her presence. The poor Chunin jumped in surprise, which in turn caused both Sakura and Naruto to turn and look at him. With a very uncomfortable smile Iruka turned his face to the podium and panel in the front of the room as they systematically filled with the Konohagure council.

"_It was mildly awkward and uncomfortable," _Iruka snapped once the Genin had turned their attention away from him. They were both too worried about their teammate's fate to carry on a conversation.

"_But…" _Tez prompted with an invisible grin.

"_It was nice,"_ Iruka admitted with a soft smile. _"We kissed."_

"_Aww! You guys are so cute!"_

Iruka would have responded – maybe – except that Kakashi, dressed in his formal red Hokage robes and hat, entered the room and took his place at the podium. The whole room hushed and the trial of Sasuke Uchiha was formally called to order. Iruka stood from his place in the front row and lit the two torches to either side of the Hokage's podium with a quick jutsu before taking his seat at the little desk directly in front of it. He picked up his pen and was ready.

Sasuke was led into the room from a side entrance and placed on the audience's side of a table that was laid out in front of the Hokage's podium. To either side of the podium were panels that the council sat in. They all watched Sasuke as his chakra binding handcuffs were attached to the table he was sitting at with calm, calculating looks in their eyes. The Uchiha never even flinched, just stared them down with a dignity that was owned by his clan. Iruka knew that if it had been him in Sasuke's place he would have pissed his pants already.

Once everyone was finally settled Kakashi addressed Sasuke directly. "Sasuke, you know you're on trial for betraying us and going to live with Orochimaru, right?"

"_Well, this seems pretty informal for being a public trial,"_ Tez said.

"_Normally the past Hokage's have used the big words like treason and defection, but Kakashi hasn't done anything by the book in years. I doubt anyone here remembers a time when he was a kid let alone totally serious."_ Iruka made certain to take notes on the proceedings despite the distraction Tez was providing. He had a job and he was going to do it well. Besides, his conversations with Tez in thought happened a lot faster than conversations aloud. The speed of thought was a lot faster than moving his mouth.

"I am aware of the charges," Sasuke said calmly.

Kakashi nodded his approval. "Good, then we don't have to get into that. I'll just quickly go over the evidence we collected over the past few months."

"_Uh-oh,"_ Iruka thought facetiously.

"_What?" _Oh, yeah, he'd forgotten about his little friend. Then he realized what she was thinking about. _"He was loved by the girls when he was in my class, but nobody really likes him since he left."_

He felt Tez shrug. _"Consequences time, then."_

"We have determined that you have, in fact, defected. However, we also know that through your defection to Sound you managed to uproot Orochimaru's entire cell and have given us complete and truthful accounts of your experiences, Orochimaru's plans and actions, and the layout of the base." Then Kakashi looked up at the spectators and said, "The testimonies of Morino Ibiki from T&I and the Legendary Sennin Jiraiya can be viewed upon request at the records office. In fact, all testimonies mentioned here today can be found there, too."

Iruka rolled his eyes. Just leave it to Kakashi to go even further off the beaten path and not show any actual evidence to the audience. That was why this whole farce was being put on in the first place: to show the citizens of Konoha that although they may not like the verdict there was at least reason for it. Everything would be made public record afterwards anyway.

"_You know, I'm sure that a lot of the information in the testimonies is classified, so displaying evidence would be a patchy thing at best," _Tez stated. Why did she always claim not to read Iruka's mind when it was obvious she kept tabs on his thoughts? Like usual, she ignored Iruka's pointed thinking in order to finish her own thought. _"Also, I'll bet this is hard for him. Didn't you tell me once that Sasuke was his prize student for a while? One time I had to execute my own sister after she led a coup d'état against my oceanic kingdom. I still have nightmares about how the blood flowed from the bitch's neck and permeated her whole cell. I couldn't swim out of there fast enough…"_

"_Please, I'm trying to listen,_" Iruka snapped. He was scribbling away on the paper before him.

"_Sorry."_

Kakashi, meanwhile, had turned his attention back to Sasuke. "Then we took testimony from your shrink about your mental well-being. She said that you've been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and have been having flashbacks and nightmares. I'm not really surprised, since your time spent in Sound was pretty miserable. I'll bet you're really regretting leaving us now!"

"_Ouch! He doesn't need to be so mean, no matter how butt-hurt he is that he was ditched for the dark side."_ That was Tez, of course. Iruka ignored her.

Sasuke, to everyone's surprise, nodded his head in agreement. Iruka made note of it but Kakashi didn't bother commenting. He looked pretty irritated, though. He switched from speaking directly to Sasuke to addressing the entire room. His voice got a little louder and his wording became a little more formal. Just a smidge.

"After that we took testimonials from everyone who knew Sasuke before and after his little disappearing act. His academy teacher, Umino Iruka-sensei, said, 'Sasuke has had a very difficult childhood. Considering that his entire clan was murdered around him and he grew up without parental guidance, I don't find it surprising that when his beliefs were tried he found what he thought to be a less painful way to attain his goals. He's a sweet child who had been given a burden nobody should bear.'"

Finally! Some actual evidence! It wasn't a very compelling statement that Kakashi had quoted, but at least it was somewhat supportive.

"Also, Uzumaki Naruto, his teammate from before his defection, said, 'He's the best rival a future Hokage can have, dattebayo!' Meanwhile the guard posted outside of his cell, the Anbu called Squirrel, said, "The kid's miserable and he regrets what he's done. I hate the guy, but I think about half of his punishment is that he keeps suffering like he's been. That should be enough, maybe.'

"Furthermore, based on the testimonies given by fourteen other people who have known Sasuke both before and after his little escapade in Sound, the council and I have decided that although Sasuke is a bastard, he's not a totally bad guy."

"_He sounds like an asshole to me,"_ Tez commented.

"But this behavior is inexcusable. Many lives were affected by his decision. Uzumaki Naruto left the village for two years in order to train for Sasuke's retrieval. I myself took him as my student in my own Genin Team of Three, and I felt his betrayal just as sharply as his other teammates and friends. What he did cannot be forgiven by a mere slap on his wrist or a fine."

"_Flog him!" _ Tez shouted loudly, making Iruka wince.

"_We don't whip prisoners,"_ Iruka said simply. _"It isn't sanitary."_

"_But having a Torture department is?"_ Damn she was clever. Or she was reading his mind again.

"However, because of the intelligence he brought back he has compensated for at least part of his crimes. We will overlook all of the illegal activities he participated in while he was in Sound, accepting the intelligence he brought us as payment. He has also proven himself as invaluable since he is the only ninja to have firsthand experience with Orochimaru's experiments and research, so he cannot be sentenced to death."

"_Damn, that's got to be a ton of Intel if he can get off the hook for so much and have his life spared."_

"_Tez…"_ Iruka warned.

"He will instead be sentenced to five hundred D ranked missions, mandatory community service in the form of assisting the teachers at the academy and helping the mothers at the orphanage for the next two years. He will also be required to hand over all rights to Uchiha property including land, housing, scrolls, and monies in reparation for the time, effort, and money spent on his failed retrieval."

"_Well, that's not too bad,"_ Tez said with a mental whistle.

"_The Uchiha family has its own compound with several dozen houses, its own library of special Ninjutsu and Genjutsu scrolls, not to mention it was one of the richest clans in the city. It's a lot of money being added to the treasury, which will put Konoha into a higher standing amongst the other hidden villages,"_ Iruka replied offhandedly.

"_Yeah, but he's getting off pretty light. Community service and low ranking missions are easy and safe, even though they're probably boring as hell."_

"Lastly, he will remain in chakra cuffs and will not be allowed to leave the village walls for the next year. He will also be required to undergo weekly evaluations and random home and personal inspections performed by Ibiki. If he does not pass an evaluation or inspection he will be sent to prison for the remainder of his natural life.

"_That's a little more like it! Special torture once a week! Can I watch?"_

"_Tez! Don't be so crude."_

"_True, who wants to watch someone else's torture when you can have your own for fun!"_ Her sarcasm was seriously starting to annoy Iruka. Normally he wouldn't have any trouble keeping up with the speed at which his Hokage was speaking, but the running commentary in his head was distracting him. Even when writing in his own personal shorthand he could barely get everything down. He'd have to transcribe everything when he got back to the office afterward.

"This is both my will and the council's. Do you understand, Sasuke?" Kakashi finished by addressing Sasuke directly once again.

Sasuke nodded and said "yes" so quietly Iruka barely heard it.

"Good. Anbu, take Sasuke in for processing. Everyone else is dismissed."

As Sasuke was led out the room erupted with nose. Kakashi and the council teleported away with a poof while the audience burst into chatter. Iruka ignored the noise in favor of collecting his notes and heading slowly back up to the Hokage's office. He had a lot of work still to do.

"_Iruka, aren't you going to say anything?"_ Tez asked. _"Don't you have any opinions on what your Hokage just did to one of your students?"_

"_Of course I do,"_ Iruka snapped.

"_Then why aren't you saying anything? I'm the safest person to tell it to."_

That was certainly true. It wasn't like she was going to tell anyone else what he said. He just… didn't really feel much. He wasn't glad or grateful, and he certainly didn't feel that Sasuke deserved much worse than he got. He was just ready to move on. Get on with his life.

Tez seemed to sense his feelings. _"I guess I understand. You kind of knew this was coming."_

"_Yeah, Kakashi warned me several days ago."_

"_Well, if you ever need to talk…"_ Tez offered, leaving the end dangling for Iruka to fill in on his own.

Iruka smiled as he opened the large doors to the Hokage's office. _"I'll let you know."_

"_Great! What's next? Is there a party or something? A celebration over Sasuke's release or…"_

"_Actually, I think Naruto and Sasuke are going to have some alone time,"_ Iruka cut in. _"Naruto's spent too much time and effort to let Sasuke off the hook afterward. They'll probably go to a party for a little bit, but I doubt anyone more than a few years older than them have been invited. After a while they'll step out to hash out their feelings."_

Tez seemed to nod her understanding. _"Do you want to bet if they're going to end up as a couple or not?"_

Iruka actually laughed out loud. _"What would we bet? Your money's different than mine."_

"_Oh, I have an endless supply of imaginary money. You just wish you had my connections!"_

"What's so funny?" asked a voice behind Iruka. The poor man spun around only to see Sasuke standing framed in the doorway Iruka had just stepped through. The chain linking his two chakra binding cuffs had been removed, but the cuffs themselves were still on his wrists. Otherwise, he was free to do as he pleased. He didn't even have an ANBU shadow.

"I was just thinking about something a friend said," Iruka said a little too quickly. Although his statement was technically true he still looked uncomfortable with his eyes skirting around the room in a furtive manner as he stood in the dark beyond the doorway. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Tez could hardly blame him. _"Hey, get a grip. He doesn't know I'm here."_

"Iruka-sensei, is this the same friend who turned your shoes into cement?" Sasuke demanded.

"What?" Iruka asked. "Nobody else was in the room that time!"

Sasuke shot his old teacher a strange look; almost as if he couldn't believe Iruka was that naïve. "Iruka-sensei, you didn't see your face. That time, it was almost like you took a cue from someone else when you asked about my dream. Your expression kept changing, like you were listening to someone and answering them back. Are you using a telepathy jutsu to talk to someone outside the village or something?"

Iruka's eyes widened. You needed a specific bloodline limit in order to use that particular type of Genjutsu, which Iruka certainly didn't possess. He also hadn't realized that when he spoke to Tez – or, more accurately, thought to her – he used facial expressions as though he were still speaking out loud. He'd have to be aware of that in the future. No wonder Kakashi had been so suspicious before! He must have looked like he was crazy!

"I can't use telepathy," Iruka said calmly.

"Then what are you doing?" Sasuke demanded. "Quite frankly, you're acting pretty strange."

Just then he felt Tez leave his body, and before he could draw breath he heard a deep masculine voice say, "He's just possessed by a ghost."

Sasuke spun around while Iruka simply looked past the boy toward the door. Framed in the light from the hallway was Tez in her male form.

"Who are you?" the younger man demanded.

"I'm Tez," she said simply. "I'm training Iruka for his Jounin exam."

Sasuke rounded on Iruka. "This is the guy who's training you?" he demanded. "Who the fuck is he?"

"He's a she, actually," Iruka said awkwardly, putting his hands into his pants pockets.

"A she?" Sasuke demanded. He turned back toward Tez, who just leaned on the doorjamb casually with her arms crossed before her chest in such a way that Sasuke could tell she wasn't hiding any weapons. She looked comfortable with the whole situation. Iruka, on the other hand, envied her. He was practically panicking on the inside.

"Yeah, she uses that form so that we're evenly matched in size when we spar," he admitted tentatively. He wondered briefly how much of this Tez intended to tell.

The poor boy turned back to Iruka slowly. "How much do you know about her?"

Iruka smiled. "I know why she's here. It isn't dishonorable."

"But how can you tell?" Sasuke insisted. Iruka supposed that Sasuke, having been foolishly duped by Orochimaru's promises of power, would be wary of his teacher falling into a similar trap. "What do you know about her exactly? Where is she from? How old is she? What does she actually look like?"

"I'm from a place you can never reach," Tez said suddenly. Sasuke jumped and spun around. Clearly he hadn't expected her to speak. "I came here to complete some of my own training and wound up absorbed into Iruka's problems. One thing led to another and I volunteered to train him so he could move up in rank. He's got a lot of talent that he's wasting by remaining stagnant."

"What training are _you_ doing?" Sasuke demanded. He wasn't softening to Tez. If anything his eyes were growing narrower and more searching as she spoke.

"I'm learning how to go from one version of reality to another," she said simply.

Sasuke snorted. "I don't think he believes you," Iruka said to his teacher.

She smiled down at Sasuke, and it somehow looked kind of evil. "I know." Then her face completely shifted into an open expression with her eyebrows raised and a grin on her face as she looked over to Iruka and said, "You have to admit, it's kind of hard to believe."

"Yeah…" how could they convince Sasuke that Tez was legit? For that matter, the boy had brought up an excellent question. "But since Sasuke brought it up, what do you look like?"

"What?" Tez asked with a look of confusion on her very masculine face.

"Whenever I've seen you, you've always been in this male form," Iruka explained. "What do you really look like?"

Tez looked down at her shoes. Her brows were knitted together and she seemed to scuff at the floor with one of her feet. "That's a hard question."

"How is it a hard question?" Sasuke demanded angrily. "He asked you what you look like! How many choices could there be?"

"Do you mean my true form or my favorite form?" Tez shot back at the floor. "Or do you mean the form I use in the public right now? Or the form I inhabit in the privacy of my apartment? I have seven different forms I can shift into whenever I want or combine as I please. This one I'm wearing now is actually a mixed form, between my Gargoyle form, my Andeet form – which is an alien form so you know – and my human mage form. My true form is a combination of all seven forms and is very…" She trailed off with a small sigh.

"It's very what?" Iruka prompted gently.

"It's ugly," Tez confessed bluntly, looking him right in the eye. "It takes whole parts at random from my other forms and splices them together with no rhyme or reason. According to my friends, you can see my beauty if you look at individual details, but to tell the truth the only beautiful feature of my true form is my wings.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "You have wings?" he asked in disbelief.

Tez nodded.

Well, that explained why he always felt her wings gesturing around in his mind. Where she was from they actually had wings? At least one of her forms – probably a magical one – had real wings!

But Sasuke wasn't buying it. "Seriously, you have wings?" He sounded very skeptical.

Tez smiled, but didn't say anything. She simply took a single step into the room. Then, suddenly, a pair of wings sprang out of her back, tearing her shirt, and unfurling to their full glory. And oh, what a sight they were! They were large and leathery, like oversized bat wings, but they were a clear whitish color. In the light from the hallway behind her they seemed to shimmer in iridescent blue and pink, sometimes the colors blending to form pale purple and green.

Iruka could just stare for a long time. They were simply ethereal, and he couldn't take his eyes away. Eventually he was able to look down at Sasuke, who had backed up to stand beside Iruka, his faced unhinged in awe. Iruka smiled at Tez and made the poor boy jump when he spoke. "They are definitely beautiful."

Tez's face went completely blank at Iruka's comment. He couldn't read a single thought or emotion out of her face. In fact, her eyes barely seemed to focus on him at all, as if she were reliving something in her past. "I'm glad you think so." He voice gave away just as much as her face did.

Iruka stepped forward toward Tez slowly, as if he were approaching a feral cat in an alley. Slowly he brought his arms up in front of him as he approached and gently he pulled Tez into a soft embrace. At first her body stiffened, but after a moment she relaxed and wrapped her arms around his waist, her wings half curving around them in protection. Protection from what Iruka didn't know.

"May I touch your wings?" Iruka asked in her ear. She mumbled into his shoulder that he could after a brief hesitation.

When his hand first touched the bone at the top of the wing Tez jumped and pulled Iruka to her a little tighter. As he slowly moved his hand along the hard, skin-covered ridge and down one of the wing's ribs she began to relax again, but kept a lot of tension in her stance. When he reached around and touched the steel-like back of her wing and fingered her spine she stayed perfectly still and tense. It wasn't until his fingers brushed the soft underside of the wing that she couldn't seem to stop herself from pushing him away.

"Thank you," Iruka murmured as Tez pulled her wings back into her body, as though they'd never been there.

She looked off to the side. "In Fairy culture you never touch someone else's wings, because they're gossamer and can easily be hurt. In Gargoyle culture, though, what you just did was akin to kissing me. With tongue."

Iruka paled. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Tez smiled at him with humor for the first time since she'd first addressed Sasuke. "I realize that. You wouldn't have known, would you? I hadn't told you yet!" She turned to Sasuke. "Are you okay, boy?"

Sasuke stood rooted to the floor, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping open. After a minute he managed to close his trap. Then he started moving quickly toward the door. "I have to think about this," he muttered as he passed Iruka and Tez.

Iruka started to chase after the boy, but Tez stopped him by grabbing his arm. "He'll be okay," she said when his eyes met hers. "He just needs some time. It's a lot to wrap his head around."

"I guess," Iruka admitted distractedly. Sasuke didn't look all right.

Tez chuckled. "You should have seen my best friend when I showed him my true form for the first time."

"How bad was it?" Iruka asked with a grin.

"The poor guy passed out. He didn't know how to take it. Wouldn't even look at me the next time I shifted into it. It wasn't until later he was able to get used to it. Since then I've only shown my true self to others in stages. They seemed to take the shock better that way."

Iruka felt his face soften in sympathy. "It must have been really hard."

Tez simply shrugged. "When is life ever easy, though? This is just one more cross for me to bear."

"I know," Iruka said. "It doesn't mean you should have to bear it at all, though."

Tez sighed and returned to Iruka's body. _"Yeah, but knowing that doesn't make anything easier, or any different. I'll see you tomorrow for training."_

Iruka felt her exit the door of his mind and slam it behind her, almost as if she were running back home with unshed tears in her eyes.


	11. Chapter 10

_Chapter Ten_

Iruka found himself once again rushing to the training grounds in the hopes of meeting Tez that much sooner. Yes, he knew that doing so was stupid and pointless, but the action of hurrying did seem to bring a sense of "sooner" as he moved. Unfortunately, the person he found waiting for him in the clearing certainly wasn't the one he was hoping in vain to see.

"Hello, Sasuke," Iruka said with a polite smile. He sat down in the center and began his warm-up exercises. Sasuke, to his surprise, joined him.

"Naruto told me where you like to train," the emotive boy said after several minutes of silence. "I didn't tell him about Tez, though. He didn't seem to know anything about her, or that you were going for your Jounin exam."

"That makes sense," Iruka said. "I didn't tell him."

"Hn?" Sasuke asked. His question was clear despite the lack of words. Iruka was pleased to see that this time Sasuke was more interested in listening than accusing him of things. Apparently the boy had taken the day to do some serious thinking.

"Oh, you know Naruto," Iruka said with a sigh. "He'd want to join me in my training, and Tez never agreed to that. She's a great teacher, but since she spends most of her time here in my head it would make teaching groups much more difficult."

"What about that form I saw?" Sasuke asked. Iruka looked over at him, but the boy's head was pointed down between his legs, facing away from the academy teacher.

"That's a puppet," Iruka replied. "She said that she operates the strings from inside me, actually, but I can feel the main portion of power leave my body when she conjures the doll. You know, that puppet master from Sand could really stand to learn a few things from her."

"You know," Sasuke said, still looking away from Iruka, "she sounds too good to be true."

Iruka couldn't help but sigh. "Oh, she's not. She's fucked up."

"Really?"

"_Yes, really?"_ Tez asked. When had she gotten there?

"I'm sorry, but you are," Iruka defended aloud. Sasuke gave him a brief look before returning to his exercises. "I'm not saying you don't come by your fucked-up-ness honestly, but you are one screwed up individual."

Iruka took a breath to defend himself when Tez didn't respond immediately, but he didn't get a chance to. Tez formed her puppet and made it put its finger over Iruka's lips to silence him. "As long as we're on the same page with that, I'm good."

"I had a few questions," Sasuke stated bluntly when Tez turned around to walk away from Iruka. She didn't seem surprised at the fact that Sasuke had intentionally tried to draw her attention by voluntarily speaking a whole sentence, but Iruka was. It was odd behavior for Sasuke.

Tez continued walking to the trees but said, "Okay, what's up?"

"What exactly are you?"

Tez turned to look at him as she reached a particularly large tree. She reached over and stroked the trunk as if she were greeting a friend. "I'm a power unto myself."

"But what can you give to Iruka-sense?" Sasuke asked. "What can you give him that we ninja can't?"

Tez smiled. "I can give him the ability to draw power from the world around him. From what I understand, you guys can't just do that but from what I can see of your power you are able to. Iruka's learning how to sense the elements, and before I'm done he'll be able to pull power from the wind, the earth, the water, and the life force and chakra supplies around him. He'll never tire."

Sasuke's and Iruka's eyes widened, but both for slightly different reasons: Iruka had come to the realization a while ago but had never dared say it aloud. Sasuke, on the other hand, spoke before his head caught up for the first time in a very long time. "You're teaching him Senjutsu."

"Is that what you call it?" Tez asked nonchalantly. "That's the way upper level magic works on my world. If you can connect to it then you can draw power from it. That's actually the basis for a few religions on my planet, namely Wicca and Witchcraft. They do it on a much smaller level, basically amplifying positive thoughts and feelings for a desired outcome, but I use the power of the tides to tide me over until I can get a good night's sleep. Of course, there are repercussions when the energy drains, but with this training Iruka should be prepared for that when he finally learns everything… what?"

She'd noticed both Iruka and Sasuke staring at her with wide eyes of disbelief. Iruka was more open-mouthed, but Sasuke's was just as plain to a person who knew how to read him.

"You're teaching me to become a Sennin because it's your version of…" Iruka started, but Tez cut him off.

"Well, it seemed smart to me," Tez said. "You were wearing yourself out, but if you could learn how to use and increase your power then you'd be better suited for me to possess you. Not to mention nobody could beat you down. You'd be able to do everything you'd want…"

"So this whole thing was just so I could be your vessel?" Iruka demanded.

"No, stupid!" Tez said. "This was for you and me! Both of us! I teach you and my needs are met! Both are good, so calm down…"

"I WON'T CALM DOWN!" Iruka shouted. He began to march toward Tez to give her a piece of his mind, but before he could take two steps she was directly in front of him with one hand gently on his neck and the other in her pocket, ever so casually. Iruka felt his anger flow away, as if he had just heard the one thing that would calm him down. He was still upset, but he wasn't boiling mad anymore.

"Now that you'll listen," Tez said slowly and calmly, as though she were keeping a firm leash on her own temper, "I'll just explain to you that I've been up for a whole week dealing with bad people who have been manipulated by the being I was created to destroy. This happens once in every quarter year, and my energy levels and patience are particularly low right now. What I said before came out wrong as a result, and I'm sorry that I made it sound like I'm only out for myself. You know I like you, right? I wouldn't have offered to teach you this shit and expend nearly this much energy and effort teaching it to you if I didn't give a damn about _you_."

Well, that mad all the difference! Not really, but it was enough to pacify the true males in the group. The male look-alike gently removed her two fingers from Iruka's clavicle – yes, she'd held him pinned with only two fingers resting gently on his pulse point – and casually stepped away from him. "In the end, you can always refuse these lessons. It's against the ethics to force people to do things."

Iruka rolled his eyes and snorted. "So says the woman who promises not to read my mind but does it anyway."

She shrugged. "In my set of ethics there is one unwritten rule: in a life-and-death scenario it is okay to toss the ethics out the window so long as you can live with yourself afterward. I could live with myself afterward."

"That's still pretty sleazy."

She smiled. "Yeah, I know. But my ethical dilemma isn't why I'm here. Are we going to train today or not?"

Iruka nodded, and Tez assumed her normal battle stance – which was her standing there with a mischievous light in her eye. She turned to glare at Sasuke. "Sasuke, are you ready?"

"Hn." Sasuke took up a stance that was prepared for anything. "What are we doing?"

"You and Iruka are to use Taijutsu to fight me," Tez said calmly. "Use some light ninjutsu, but keep your attacks physically based."

Sasuke and Iruka both gave a single nod of affirmation and waited. As one they suddenly burst forward and attacked Tez, each going around to Tez's opposite sides and attacking simultaneously. Tez leapt forward so quickly Iruka barely caught the movement before Sasuke's fist nearly landed in his face. He dodged just in time and, with a quick idea, pulled Sasuke into his arms and threw the boy at Tez.

The woman dodged the Sasuke projectile, but Iruka had expected it. She dove under the Uchiha and raced up to Iruka in a blur of color and threw a punch, only to be deflected. She blocked a return punch and two quick kicks before reaching behind herself to grab the low kick Sasuke had aimed at the small of her back. Effortlessly she broke his momentum and pushed him back the way he'd come without even bothering to turn around. Then she teleported behind Iruka, lifted him by the waist, and held him under one arm as she ran toward the Uchiha.

Sasuke saw her coming and tried to jump over her, but Tez seemed to have predicted the move and had leapt at the perfect angle to intercept Sasuke on his way down. She lined Iruka's head up with his ex-student, prepared for impact. However, Iruka squirmed and kicked his teacher in her butt, striking bone. She gave an unconvincing "ouch" and dropped the academy teacher before getting rammed by the falling Sasuke.

Iruka managed to correct his trajectory using a strong chakra pulse and sent himself skyward, intercepting the others midair and grabbing onto Tez, who had locked herself onto a tree. She had wedged herself awkwardly between a branch and the trunk, using the wood as a natural shield while she protected her head with an arm. The other arm was held down, out of sight.

With a quick battery of motion Iruka speed-punched Tez in every visible piece of flesh he could find. She managed to avoid most of it and block the rest. Then the tree branch in front of her moved all by itself, trapping Sasuke as he tried to sneak around to Tez's side. That revealed Tez's hand and the foot long diamond knife she held. In an instant she had the knife at Sasuke's throat. "If I told you to give me the goods you stole or Sasuke dies, what would you say?" she asked casually.

Iruka stared. "I'm assuming the goods are vital to my village?" he asked quietly.

"Of course they're vital," Tez replied with an easy smile. "Otherwise this scenario would be easy to overcome."

That was certainly true. As it was, he didn't have to think about it. "I would give you a fake scroll."

"And if that wasn't an option?" Tez insisted.

Iruka teleported behind the tree and reached around to slit Tez's throat with a kunai. No blood seeped from the wound, but she let her arm drop and set the branch back to its normal angle. Sasuke stood up and inched closer to Tez, curious about the deadly wound that hadn't killed her. She turned to look at him and smiled. "Very good."

At that point Tez turned to Sasuke and said, "Sasuke, thanks for your help, but I think that the rest of this is a little above your head."

"Hn," Sasuke muttered. He didn't look very impressed. Iruka thought that he wanted to see what Tez was planning next and wasn't about to leave until he found out what it was.

Fortunately, Tez seemed to be able to read Sasuke about as well as Iruka could. "I don't think it's appropriate to teach this type of thing to someone who just yesterday avoided the death penalty and is now on parole."

It made sense to Iruka, and judging by Sasuke's glare the younger man understood as well. It was probably best to wait a few weeks before testing the limits of his restriction. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean that the boy had to like it. He stormed off angrily. Iruka watched him go before turning to his teacher. "You know, technically he's not on parole."

"True, but he's definitely on probation," Tez said easily as she walked toward a tree. "I think it's best if you taught him what you're learning once you know he's allowed to learn it."

"Right." Once they got around to actually learning something.

"So, let me watch you meditate," Tez said in a tone that Iruka couldn't argue with. "Do the new meditation. Maybe we can get you talking to fire."

Well, talking to fire didn't quite happen. He was, however, able to get a clear visual of a six inch square patch of space about two meters in front of him with his eyes closed for a few minutes. It was very strange, really. Tez stuck her hand in the area he could see, and not only could he see the palm of her hand and her fingers, but also the back of it, and the bones, and her muscles. Everything was outlined in a strange, indefinable, fuzzy light that looked just like his chakra.

He also got the distinct impression that there was another hand inside the physical one, and it was shaped very differently. I was pretty indistinct, almost as if it wasn't physical and instead was… chakra or something. It was superimposed inside the physical hand and made the same four poses as the real one (she said that she was using her world's sign language to spell fuck at him). Was that how Tez controlled the puppet?

Iruka pulled his mind away from that one spot and looked up at Tez. He was tired, but not completely drained. "Is that how you see when you're out of your body?" he asked with awe.

She nodded. "It takes a long time to be able to widen the area you can see in. I figure that by the time you take your test you'll be able to at least search a ten foot area around you and spot your enemy without seeing them. It's also how you'll learn to see chakra."

"How does this help me talk to fire?" Iruka asked. He was amazed that he could do something without his eyes that the Hyuuga clan prided themselves on with their eyes. Nevertheless, fire wasn't seeing with chakra.

"I should have never used that phrase," Tez said, altering her voice up to sound like she usually did in her head. She did that sometimes, particularly near the end of training sessions. It was almost as if she became too tired to bother keeping up the façade. Iruka would believe that, but Tez never got tired. Her breathing was never labored and she never needed to eat or drink. In fact, they only ever stopped training when Iruka's chakra reserves drained down to a certain point.

"What phrase?" Iruka asked, pushing his thoughts to the side. Technically, although Tez spoke through the dummy she was still inside his head. She could still keep tabs on his thoughts, although he got the feeling that she concentrated on the puppet more and on his mind less when she was playing puppeteer.

"You're never actually going to talk to fire, exactly," Tez explained. "Fire doesn't talk so much as it dances. It dances and it consumes. When there isn't something carbon-based for it to feed on, like wood or wax or flesh, it can feed on itself. The other elements are rooted in your body as the minerals you've eaten, the water you drank, and the air you've breathed. However, Fire is an energy, and therefore isn't truly tangible.

"Your chakra, on the other hand, is an abundance of soul energy that you can gather from your body and push into jutsu. If you concentrate, you can turn a ray of soul into a tongue of flame. Do you know any jutsu that conjures fire?"

Iruka thought about it. One time he'd seen Sasuke studying one of his family's scrolls many years earlier, back when the boy was just beginning as his student. Iruka could still remember the instructions for the simple-looking fire jutsu. He hadn't meant to! He just had a photographic memory!

Anyway, his hands flew through the seals and he visualized his chakra coming up through his windpipe and pressing into the back of his throat. Then, with a shout of "Katon Gokakyuu not Jutsu!" he brought his fingers to his lips, imagined his pent-up chakra releasing into flames as it left his mouth, he pushed the chakra out of his body with a long exhale of air.

A fireball erupted directly in front of Iruka right where Tez was standing. It was so large he couldn't see past it. Was his teacher okay? He hadn't expected it to work, or else he would have pointed it the other way! Only Uchiha's knew the secret to that jutsu! Everyone else was supposed to be hands off! There was a reason for that!

"_Relax,"_ Tez snarled from inside his mind. _"I'm not in the dummy. It got torched, but I'm fine. Damn, that is one hell of a blast. It's got to be at least thirty feet wide. I'm lucky I shielded the trees before you started, or else we'd have a forest fire on our hands. 'Only YOU can prevent forest fires!'"_

"_What?"_ Iruka asked. He felt feint. He'd run out of breath and the fireball had quickly disappeared, his chakra right along with it.

"_Never mind. Practice seeing without your eyes tomorrow during your meditation, and when we train tomorrow night we'll work on controlling the fire. Have a good night."_

"_Tez, are you really okay?"_ Iruka asked.

He could feel her smile. It was tired, but happy. _"I'm fine. I just need to get some rest."_

"_Well, then, good night."_

Then she left.


	12. Chapter 11

_Chapter Eleven_

As time passed, Iruka fell into a routine again. In addition to the already established meditation and training sessions, Iruka also started spending a lot of time with Kakashi. They continued eating their evening meal together and started spending Sundays together as well. The dates were usually pretty normal things – the second date consisted of Iruka making lunch and then watching a movie and the third consisted of kunai throwing practice and a picnic in the training grounds after.

The physical stuff between them improved dramatically over the first few weeks. They'd started off with simple kisses at the end of dates, but had soon progressed to full-on making out. After another couple of dates they had moved on to groping and taking off their shirts. Iruka, however, had put a quick kibosh on sex: he didn't need Tez popping in when they were in the middle of it. He had the horrible feeling that the one time he allowed things to go that far Tez would make a special visit just to bother him.

Speaking of which, Tez had been a little strange lately. After that one week where she was in a bad mood, she'd completely returned to normal! She would tease, joke, and generally try to offend Iruka whenever she could, just like she had before. It made Iruka wonder if he needed to see his shrink again because he was worrying over someone being normal.

When Iruka asked her about it she'd briefly explained that sometimes the different parts of her life overlapped, which caused her enough stress as it was. Then, when she added in her normally busy days and the near constant Calls on her for help that indicated the start of Hell Weeks – one week in every three month period where her enemy sent a barrage of bad things her way to be dealt with immediately – it wasn't very surprising that she couldn't completely hide her agitation or exhaustion during her visits.

Iruka had offered to listen to her. He hadn't expected the hour long rant she threw at him about needy healers who couldn't handle the aftermath of a four day battle, Kings who required her for mediation over silly land disputes that could potentially lead to war, and how the werewolf packs and vampire clans were stirring up some old bad blood yet again. Apparently all of it was caused by the great being she had been created to defeat. And that's what made it a Hell Week. Those were the things she'd had to deal with on the first day alone, too.

She'd finished by telling him that her son, Jason, had thrown a tantrum again. When she'd asked him what had set him off he'd told her that he didn't want to go on his annual visit to his birthmother. Apparently he was afraid that Tez wouldn't come and pick him up since she'd abandoned him the year before when she had turned on her chosen family.

The thing was she had brought him to her new place several months later, after he'd spent the required time with the family he had been born into. It had been more logical to wait until their summer vacation since he would have to make the transition to a nocturnal sleep schedule. They _did_ run a newly established vampire clan, after all. It would look really bad if the queen of a nocturnal species kept her family on a daytime schedule and sent her human mageborn child to the normal daytime school. She needed the two month tour through her oceanic country to make a gradual transition from a day schedule to a night one.

Apparently it had taken a very long time to make Jason understand this. He'd been several hours late arriving at his birthmother's house, and Tez had been on the receiving end of that woman's husband's tongue lashing. Tez had needed the fight with Iruka and Sasuke more than either of them knew just so she could work off the tension from her day.

It also explained why she'd left so quickly after. She didn't really have the time to dilly dally. Iruka was actually impressed that she had been able to squeeze him into her schedule for two full hours that day. She'd only been able to stay for an hour the day after, and twenty minutes the day after that.

The training since then had progressed quickly. In the few months since that horrid week Iruka had managed to fully gain control of fire. He could conjure it, move it, re-form it, and banish it. He could even draw power from it, but not quickly enough yet to be beneficial in a fight. They were still working on that as well as seeing with chakra. The images were still fuzzy and seeing inside an object as well as outside was still very disorienting.

He had, however, increased his chakra control so much from said exercise that almost all of the chakra he put into a jutsu actually made it into the spell. They'd also started going through scenarios and possible ways to get out of common sticky situations, like hostage negotiations and what Tez had termed a "Mexican Standoff."

Then they'd spent a week perfecting disguises. Apparently Tez enjoyed the Transformation jutsu and taught Iruka some of the finer points of infiltration, like acting, controlling a conversation, and dancing. She'd even dragged him to the Yamanaka flower shop and had Ino teach him the finer points of the language of flowers. He knew some of it, but Ino and Inoichi had pounded more facts and interpretations into his head than he was prepared for.

Kakashi and Tez, however, still didn't interact well with each other. It wasn't until Tez said something strange that Iruka figured out that she just didn't respond well to authority. She wasn't a submissive person by any means, and although she had no problem playing a harem wife once in a great while – or just once, and only for the sake of stabilizing a foreign government – she did not appreciate other people telling her what to do. However, phrasing it as a request seemed to work wonders.

Sasuke, on the other hand, started attending training every day. Tez just loved pitting the two of them against her so she could beat up one of them (usually Sasuke) by manipulating Iruka (oftentimes by throwing him at the Uchiha). Although both of them were improving drastically with hand-to-hand combat, Tez still managed to waltz around them as if she'd been born with a knife in her hand.

Although, it was a surprise the one time she offered to teach them how to fight in the way she'd been trained. Apparently she had learned how to use a knife and various handheld weapons before she'd even learned to throw a punch, so her war god stepfather (Ares, whoever that was) had taken her into his temple to teach her.

"I'm going to teach you how to throw a punch," Tez had said as she stood facing off with Sasuke. The poor boy volunteered for this, despite Iruka's warning. Tez hadn't looked happy at the memory, and although she had offered to demonstrate her first lesson in the art of fist fighting, the academy teacher realized from the tightness in her lip and the stiffness in her back that she was probably being facetious. "Are you ready?"

Sasuke stood there in a ready-for-anything fighting stance, completely unprepared for what was actually about to happen. "Hn."

Tez stepped forward and punched Sasuke in the nose. With a sickening crunch the poor boy reeled back in surprise, his hand covering his broken nose. The blood trickled down and dripped onto his dark blue shirt. (He'd stopped wearing the white one that revealed his chest when Tez had possessed Iruka and tucked some money into his belt and demanded a lap dance. That shirt wasn't appropriate for combat, anyway.)

Tez's eyes hardened after quickly sweeping over Sasuke's prone figure to assess the damage. His nose was clearly broken judging by how much blood was spewing out. "See, that's how you punch someone. Get up, try again."

Again they stood facing one another, and Tez threw another punch just like her first one. This time, though, Sasuke dodged to the side and placed a kunai against Tez's throat.

"Good job, you learned the lesson!" Tez had said with a smile. Sasuke backed off, but he didn't put his kunai away. Slowly, so that Sasuke could see all of her movements, Tez reached forward and started healing his nose. "The actual lesson was how to dodge a punch. Then, after I had figured out how to block with my arms, he taught me 'how to kick,' which was actually a lesson in how to dodge and block the different kinds of kicks. He wouldn't move on to something new until I'd mastered the previous things, and I spent a majority of each lesson healing my own broken bones."

"That's awful!" Iruka had muttered, evoking a dry laugh from Tez.

"Of course it's awful!" she said. "It was cruel and harmful, but it taught me not only how to fight without weapons, but also how to recuperate and retaliate."

After that Sasuke had treated Tez's teaching with much more respect. So did Iruka, actually. It made a big difference when he realized that the knowledge Tez was teaching him for nothing was wisdom she'd bought with blood.

However, for some reason Iruka wasn't certain about, Kakashi had started showing up for training sessions less and less. He would often walk with Iruka over to the training grounds, but once Tez appeared and they'd exchanged a few stiffly cordial words he almost always left.

In fact, that's what Iruka planned to ask Kakashi after they finished eating their Yakisoba. However, the tricky part was breaching the subject.

He didn't have to worry, though. Once he finished and had offered Kakashi some tea – they were at Iruka's apartment eating take out – Kakashi leaned forward and asked, "What do you want to talk to me about?"

Iruka hadn't realized that his nerves had been that transparent. Tez had said that only a small fraction of nerves were actually noticeable to others, but then she'd stipulated that everything was noticeable to people who knew you well. Kakashi had proved that he was pretty adept at reading the Chunin's body language months ago. "I was wondering if you'd like to stay for training tonight." It wasn't quite what he wanted to ask, but he figured it was a good lead into it.

Kakashi seemed a little surprised as he sat back from the kotatsu, but he dignified Iruka's question with an honest answer. "I'm not very fond of your teacher, and I would rather spend less time around her."

"Oh," Iruka said. "What don't you like?"

Kakashi shrugged with one shoulder and took a sip of tea. "She refuses to lower her defenses around me."

That didn't sound too bad, but it seemed to open a floodgate that Kakashi had apparently been trying to keep closed for months. "I'm her Hokage, and she doesn't bow or pay her respects to my office. I don't care if she hates me personally, but I was chosen for this office and I've done a decent job so far, thanks to you. And, just in case that wasn't enough, I…" he trailed of, apparently lost in thought.

"What isn't enough?" Iruka asked, intrigued despite Kakashi's obvious unease.

"I know she's a woman. Her body language and word choice confirm it, but when I see you together I find that I'm just plain jealous that she gets to spend so much time around you. And I don't like it."

Iruka's heart just melted. It was so sweet how Kakashi always held him so preciously. He leaned forward and began kissing his Hokage.

Kakashi pulled him around the table and held him close for several minutes. Then he broke away from Iruka and stood up, pulling Iruka up with him by the hand. "Let's go to the bedroom."

It was getting a little late and he needed to get the dishes cleaned before he headed out to the training ground. Although… Kakashi was right there staring at him. He'd been putting this off without any explanation for a while now. The dishes could wait. If he ran he could make it to the clearing in time, right?

He followed Kakashi into his own bedroom for no other reason than he wanted to. As soon as the door closed Kakashi pulled him close and started kissing him. He opened his mouth with a surprised gasp and Kakashi took the opportunity to deepen the kiss and sneak his hand under the hem of Iruka's shirt.

Iruka began leaning his weight backward, forcing Kakashi to take a step forward. Slowly he began walking the two of them back to the bed without breaking their kiss until Iruka was able to slowly sit on its surface. Kakashi leaned over him in order to keep the kiss from breaking, so Iruka dragged him onto the bed with him as he shifted so he was lying in the middle with Kakashi on top.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes," Iruka replied simply in a husky voice. He needed more contact with his lover, and talking didn't accomplish that.

Kakashi's hand began to softly work its way up Iruka's stomach under his shirt and stopped when it reached the teacher's nipples. Iruka swallowed a small groan as he bucked his hips up, making his erection grind into Kakashi's. The Jounin let out a soft moan into Iruka's mouth as he took one nipple between his fingers and rolled it. Iruka pulled Kakashi down so all of his weight was on the Chunin and squeezed, rubbing his hard on wantonly in an attempt to get as much friction as possible.

That was it! Kakashi didn't need any more confirmation than that. In the space of three heartbeats he'd stripped off his and Iruka's shirts and pulled a small bottle of lube out of his pocket. It wouldn't do him any good there if his pants were on the floor.

Not to be outdone – and because he wanted as much skin contact as possible – Iruka leaned up and placed his lips on the flesh just above Kakashi's collar bone and began to suck. While Kakashi was distracted and still above him, Iruka removed his pants with one hand. As Kakashi began to tremble in frozen bliss the Chunin also removed his own pants and underwear as well.

Kakashi gently pushed Iruka back down onto the bed and started kissing down a nicely tanned chest. When he reached Iruka's hard on, he kissed the tip before quickly taking the whole thing all the way into his mouth, weeping tip and all. Iruka had to bite his lip to keep himself from coming. Fortunately Kakashi only bobbed his head up and down twice before releasing it from his mouth with one last sensuous lick.

Iruka pulled Kakashi back up to his mouth and started ravishing him. Meanwhile Kakashi reached for the lube and coated two fingers. He trailed his fingers from one of Iruka's sensitive nipples all the way down to his crotch, circumventing the penis and quickly stroking up on his balls. Then he swiftly twirled his fingers briefly around Iruka's hole and slid one finger inside.

He started pulling the finger in and out slowly, but soon he gained speed. Then he added another finger and began scissoring them, preparing Iruka for the member that was about to come. Iruka, for his part, was trying to push himself down onto Kakashi's fingers. Then Kakashi hit his sweet spot, and he arched up, his erection brushing Kakashi's in a delicate dance. They hadn't broken their kiss once.

That was it! Iruka was ready, and Kakashi couldn't wait any more. Kakashi broke away to get the lube and lather up his dick. Then he placed it at Iruka's entrance and leaned forward, keeping their eyes – Kakashi's hitai-ate had come off with his shirt – locked. He wanted to see Iruka as he entered him and memorize every single detail.

As he started to push, Iruka didn't even wince. His face was slightly blushed and his eyelids were heavy with ecstasy. When Kakashi finally hit home Iruka arched up, pulling Kakashi down for another kiss. Two strong thrusts and they came together, Iruka shifting his hips so he could milk Kakashi's orgasm as much as he could.

Kakashi leaned forward with all of his weight resting on Iruka and kissed his Chunin for all he was worth. Iruka kissed him back, but after a few minutes he shifted to the side and pushed Kakashi off of him and onto the bed. They stayed that way with their sides overlapping for several minutes with Iruka carefully tucked under Kakashi's arm, their bodies held tightly together as they basked in the afterglow.

"We should have done that before," Iruka whispered into Kakashi's ear.

"We would have if you hadn't held out," Kakashi teased back.

"We couldn't," Iruka said. "Tez would have walked in on us, and I didn't want to tempt fate."

"But I'm glad you did. It was just that much more special this time," Kakashi replied as he nuzzled Iruka's neck. "We'll have to do this again soon."

Iruka smiled and pulled Kakashi close. "Not too soon. I think I have to recover a little."

Kakashi pulled himself back on top of Iruka and leaned down to peck at the kiss swollen lips. "Well, we could always start over. Take our time."

Iruka kissed him back. "I think we should."

* * *

><p>Tez popped into Iruka's head and nearly went reeling back into her own world. She felt something moving in and out of Iruka's ass, hands running up and down his sides, and a tongue in his mouth. Although it wasn't her body and she wasn't truly connected to it, she still felt and sensed things that Iruka could feel and sense. It was just a lot duller to Tez, like everything went through a filter before it reached her.<p>

She forced Iruka's eyes open, although she doubted that Iruka would even notice her presence. He was drowning in the sensations that Kakashi was creating. _"Holy Shit!" _She bolted out of Iruka's head so fast it was like she'd never been there.

She'd go back, of course. Give them six hours, and she'd go back when she was sure Iruka was sleeping. She was going to walk down the middle of his dream naked, in her beautiful goddess form. See how the gay man would appreciate that!

Damn it, they were supposed to be training, not having sex with his boyfriend! That shit was private! And he knew when she was coming…. Not coming but arriving! She needed to go home and watch… something funny that made no references to sex. Maybe her brother Frank would know of one?

…Unless he was having private time with his boyfriend, although she seriously doubted that. They worked at a drag show in Los Angeles. They worked hours like this. Either way, she couldn't go over there. What was she going to say? "Hey, I need to watch something funny with absolutely NO sexual humor. Why? Because I just caught my student sleeping with his boy toy and now I feel violated."

That wouldn't go over too well, for her anyway. Frank would love it. He'd love it so much he'd tell the whole family. Then they'd all tease her about how they would all strip and walk around their floor of the house butt naked, visit war zones and battle field where people had been massacred, and make the most disgusting concoctions containing bugs, mud, and toothpaste for her to eat and not get a rise out of her, but being in a guy while he was doing "it" freaked her out.

But do you know what the worst thing was? She was jealous. Because she didn't have a boyfriend and he did.

* * *

><p>Tez went back later in the evening. Iruka, surprisingly, was awake and watching Kakashi sleep. The bed looked like they'd gone at it several more times and hadn't bothered to tidy up the bad.<p>

"_Hey,"_ he said when he noticed her presence.

"_You know, I don't have a problem with you having sex with your boyfriend,_" Tez said without preamble, _"but I would rather you didn't do that while trying to skip my lessons."_

"_I'm sorry, Tez." _Clearly, he wasn't really. He was completely satisfied.

"_I stumbled in on you and him while you were doing it, and quite frankly that was something I didn't want to witness. Do it on your own time, not mine."_ She didn't sound irritated at all. In fact, she sounded deadly serious, as though she'd given this a lot of thought and wanted to communicate to Iruka her point of view with respect.

Iruka felt humbled. _"Yes, Sensei."_

"_Good. I'll see you tomorrow at the usual time."_ With that she left Iruka to fall asleep next to his boyfriend.


	13. Chapter 12

_Chapter Twelve_

Water was easy for Iruka, which surprised the Chunin to no end but seemed to make perfect sense to everyone else. Why did everyone assume that because Iruka's name meant "dolphin" that he automatically had a connection to water? Tez had simply shrugged and said, "Just like everyone assumes that because I'm part mermaid I hate the desert, which is total crap. I hate the desert because the sand gets everywhere and I feel grimy all the time."

Air was also pretty easy, although he realized that Naruto taught him more with the Rasengan than Tez did when she covered the whole element since the mage treated air like a less-dense version of water. Her manipulation of the element was much smoother than Naruto's and not quite as effective. Apparently she'd never been trained in the use of air, so the things she knew were based off of her training with water. Either way, she'd had Naruto teach both her and Iruka the Rasengan, and both had picked it up pretty quickly, causing Naruto to boast at how great a teacher he was to his sensei.

Actually, Naruto and Tez got along great. Tez didn't talk to the teen much, but he talked to her about everything. Sasuke would sometimes interject, and Iruka, of course, participated in the conversations. It felt like a family gathering sometimes with the easy camaraderie during training sessions. Sometimes, when Iruka was particularly drained, Tez would bring a basket full of foreign food over from her own world. The dish called spaghetti was Naruto's favorite while Sasuke leaned towards pizza and Iruka enjoyed the barbeque chicken.

Now if only Kakashi would get off his ass and join them, life would be perfect!

However, Iruka wasn't about to force things between Tez and Kakashi. Tez blew hot and cold most days, but she was consistently supportive of his and Kakashi's relationship. Sure, they didn't get along, but Tez openly admitted that she was entirely to blame. Kakashi simply avoided her in order to keep things pleasant between him and Iruka. Tez never made no never mind about the fact Kakashi wasn't around. She openly admitted once that if he did hang around she wouldn't stop until she baited him into a fight.

Of course, that didn't stop her from beating everybody else's asses when she taught them how to use the Earth element. Earth was all about willpower, and Tez proved that she had the strongest will of all. She also proved that she had the hardest head of all. Nobody should be able to turn a man sized stone pillar into dust just by banging their head into it! Seriously!

So that brought them to Iruka's Jounin exam. The Jounin exam was a private affair before the Hokage and the council alone and proctored by ANBU in masks. There was a written exam about battle tactics, a psychological evaluation performed by a high level psych ninja, and a demonstration of abilities. Iruka was prepared for the written test – Tez had gone over some of the finer points of stratagem with him the week before. The demonstration was iffy since he'd never applied what Tez had taught him to real life situations before, but he felt ready. The psych evaluation, on the other hand, was a whole other matter.

What if he really was crazy? He didn't think so, but he wouldn't know for certain until that particular therapy session. He hadn't visited his therapist since Tez's first arrival. Sure he'd been contacted to see how he was doing, but he hadn't felt it was necessary to continue their sessions. After all, he was either crazy or sane. Since other people knew of Tez's existence, he assumed he wasn't completely nuts at least.

But naturally that was going to be the second test. Iruka sat for a full twelve hours with a proctor reading scenario after scenario and writing down what he would do if he were really living through those circumstances. Some of the questions involved large numbers of troops, like in the last ninja war, and others would involve either just him or a small three man team. Most of the questions felt obvious to Iruka, but then he figured that since he taught the basics of these questions to his academy students he was ready for most of them.

There were a few questions he wasn't quite ready for which asked him to decide between his mission and his family, but he already knew how Kakashi wanted him to answer. He may not have had a family anymore, but Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke more than made up for the loss of biological relations. The way the test was worded, it even took into account his personal situation and those of his friends. It seemed to question him about the personal weaknesses and previous shortcomings he'd demonstrated back when he still took missions.

The fact that he'd only been on a few dozen missions since becoming an academy sensei didn't seem to matter to anybody. Everyone he talked to before the exam was very supportive, and Kakashi had told him right after sex the day before the written exam that they didn't care about his recent record. Apparently Genin teams were assigned to Jounin who hadn't had an outside mission in a while – for various reasons –in order to gently re-incorporate them into the rigmarole of mission life. Since Iruka was good as a teacher, his first few assignments as a Jounin would be to teach fresh Genin teams of three anyway.

Tez hadn't been around since a few days before the first test began. She had told him that she wouldn't be by to see him because apparently it was the end of the quarter and they hadn't had a Hell Week since the previous period, but he had still hoped that she would pop over in time to wish him luck. The lack of support was disappointing even though it was completely expected.

Even without Tez there Iruka felt good about the first test. It had been proctored by three ANBU (to prevent cheating, because this test actually was about knowledge and not about basic ninja skills) and Iruka felt that he had done his best, especially considering that one ANBU kept looking over his shoulder the whole time.

"You know, Genma, if you keep reading my paper over my shoulder I'm going to have to reject your next three mission reports on principle alone," Iruka had murmured under his breath as the ANBU leaned in again. Genma pretended he hadn't heard Iruka but backed off for the rest of the test anyway.

That night Iruka had sat up in bed and watched the stars out his window, waiting for morning. Kakashi wasn't going to show up since it would be improper for the Hokage to see him during the course of the exam, but he didn't want to be alone. Naruto was out on a mission and due back the next day, and Sasuke had needed to get back to his apartment for sleep. At least, that's what Iruka had insisted on. Now he wished he'd accepted Sasuke's offer to spend the night.

After one restless night with a few light dozes, Iruka got up on the morning of the second test. He had to go to the hospital and check in with a new psych ninja. Then they would start talking and the guy would figure out if Iruka's mind was stable and strong enough to endure the pressures of command and S-ranked missions.

He was ushered into a room that looked more like the Hokage's office than a councilor's room. Most shrinks' offices he'd visited had been comfortable with couches and overstuffed chairs to make the patient feel relaxed and able to talk. In the center of this room was a large, intricately carved dark wooden desk, which was immaculately clean. There wasn't a single speck of dust or runaway piece of paper, almost as if the desk had just been set in its place.

In front of the desk there were no chairs or benches, nothing for Iruka to sit on. There were no plants in the corners or art on the walls. The only other thing in the room aside from a large window overlooking an alley was a throne-like chair behind the desk occupied by a sour-faced old man in blindingly colored robes.

"_Dude looks like __Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat__."_ Tez said from out of nowhere. Her voice sounded exhausted, as if she had absolutely no energy.

"_I'm glad you're here,"_ Iruka said. _"Are you all right?"_

"_I had to go visit a foreign world and wound up trapped in a life-and-death competition in a labyrinth of underground dungeons to find a trinket that can destroy planets. Don't worry, we found the stupid little gemstone and destroyed it, but I expended too much power and collapsed. Apparently my soul decided to make the trek over here without my conscious desire."_

Iruka chuckled under his breath and stepped up to the desk. _"I'm glad you made it."_ To the man he said, "Hello, I am Umino Iruka, and I'm here for the second part of the Jounin exam."

The man's black eyes pierced Iruka's brown ones with a searching look. After a long moment the man said, "Umino-san, you are here because I ordered the Hokage to bring you to me. There is something I must do."

"Oh?" Who could order the Hokage to do anything? Was this man on the council? He wasn't one of the Clan leaders, but he could be from the Elders side. Iruka wasn't familiar enough with them to be able to recognize one from another, especially when one was dressed so strangely.

"You are aware of the tensions between Konoha and the Hidden Mist Village, I assume," the man stated in a raspy voice.

"There have been tensions leading back to before the last ninja war," Iruka said calmly.

The old man nodded before responding. "Recent activity has suggested that they have begun moving, showing more hostility toward us. It is my belief along with many of the elders that we must take preventative actions using the greatest strength we can muster. You, Umino-san, are our link to such power."

Iruka could feel himself pale at those words. Hostilities had been increasing a little more rapidly lately and more ninjas were being assigned missions regarding Mist, but Iruka felt that a pre-emptive strike was a little too strong an action for the situation. Besides, he was the mentor to the strength they wanted to use. "I don't think the situation warrants sending Naruto in…"

"I was not speaking of Uzumaki Naruto, Umino-san," the man broke in forcefully. "I was referring to the woman who is looking through your eyes right now."

"_Iruka, I'm not liking where this is going,"_ Tez said as the door behind Iruka opened. Iruka turned to see Kakashi enter the room followed by Nara Shikaku, Hyuuga Hiashi, and Sakura. None of them looked happy to be there, least of all Kakashi.

"_Yeah, I'm worried, too,"_ Iruka replied. _"I'm supposed to be talking to a psychologist right now, but I feel like I'm being ambushed."_

"What are you doing?" Iruka asked. Despite the panic he felt rising up in his throat his voice sounded calm.

"My clan has a very rare bloodline limit that allows us to sense when people are present, but unseen. An even more rare mutation of the limit is the ability to summon those people when their bodies are veiled by time and space. It is fortunate that your friend is here now, since the technique is very difficult and would be particularly painful for her if she were elsewhere."

Suddenly Iruka's body was moving of its own accord. Tez had taken over, her fear almost palpable to Iruka. "You can't pull me through! My friends won't know where my body's gone, and you'll force them to…"

"I do not care," the man announced, cutting Tez off. As he spoke he reached forward with his hand and grabbed Iruka's body by the throat. Iruka could feel the chakra in the hand as he started pulling away, his hands firmly grasping a black neck that was being pulled out and away from Iruka's body.

Tez began screaming in pain! It wasn't a physical sound, but it was deafening in Iruka's mind. Everyone in the room covered their ears, but since the anguish wasn't audible the gesture did nothing to block the noise. She didn't stop screaming until her body was pulled away from Iruka's and dropped unceremoniously on the floor in front of everybody. Iruka stood for a moment, basking in the silence before he felt something inside him suddenly tear, and a wispy blue light ripped out of him and was sucked into the body before him along with one last word: _"Shit."_

Iruka's knees shook as he tried to take a step forward, and he fell to his hands and knees before Tez's prone form. She was very small, only about 150 centimeters (about 4'11") with dark golden skin, a shapely little figure, and shoulder length curly black hair. The soft little body in front of Iruka was the complete opposite to Tez's strong and harsh personality. He could hardly believe that the oval face before him with her small nose and delicate brown lips belonged to the warrior mage who had been training him in battle jutsu and attack and defense maneuvers for the past eight months.

He preferred to believed that the male form he'd been sparring with was what she really looked like. This form was much too fragile to hold her strength.

Without thinking Iruka reached out and touched Tez's soft hair. He trailed his fingers down the side of her cheek and rested his hand on her chest just above her breast. He felt very little chakra coursing through her pathways, almost a dangerously low level. So, he pulled on a little of his chakra and started feeding it into her body.

It didn't do much. Her chakra pathways were enormous, and the portion of chakra Iruka could afford to give her was barely a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of power she was used to carrying, but it was just enough to wake her up. Grey eyes fluttered open and saw Iruka before she slowly sat up and rubbed her head.

"This sucks." Her voice was exactly the same as the one she used in his head. It was light and gentle with a strong undercurrent. Beautiful. She glanced over at the man who had pulled her through to the ninja world. He looked a little tired, but not seriously damaged, although Iruka almost wished he had sustained an injury. That was such a dipshit move, completely beneath one who managed to become an elder of the village. "You know, you could have asked if I would bring myself through, " Tez stated with irritation.

"There was no way to know you would accept our proposal," the Hyuuga said, stepping forward. "I was not aware of your presence at all, let alone the fact that you have possessed Umino-san for months, according to Tatayama-san."

Tez stood slowly, using the large desk in the middle of the room as a brace. Then she slowly maneuvered her way around the desk and started rummaging through the drawers. Nobody moved a muscle to stop her. "I have not been possessing Iruka exactly, although I have been periodically residing in his body. The whole purpose I originally was brought to Iruka was so I could work my way up into pulling my body from my dimension into this one. Of course, nobody was supposed to know I was here, except I accidentally got pulled to Iruka's body in the first place. You, Tatayama-baka – "she pointed at the old man, who nodded at his name despite the insult she attached to it "– where do you keep your paper and pens?"

"Top left drawer," he replied gruffly. "Pens are in the middle. What do you want them for?"

"My friends are probably freaking out since I'm sure they've noticed I'm not crashed out on my couch. I'm going to send them a not so my Bonded One doesn't come crashing over here and tear your city down. He's the only one with the power and the knowledge to actually make it over here and wreak enough havoc that you won't be a threat to a civilian village let alone the Hidden Mist Village." She paused from her writing to smile at the old man before quickly finishing her letter and folding it.

Before anyone in the room could blink she was standing behind Tatayama with her hand placed squarely in the middle of his back. "Pardon me while you help me contact my people." Then she opened what looked like a little hole that revealed a room with a messed-up couch-bed and an entryway that led to a decent sized kitchenette. Four men and a woman were gathered next to the table in the kitchen area, looking over at them while holding an old man with long silver hair from moving.

Tez quickly tossed her letter through the portal as she shouted, "I'll be back when I have the energy to return," just before the portal snapped shut, as if it had never been there. Tatayama fell to the floor, unconscious. Tez stepped over him as she approached Iruka and the rest of the group. "Serves him right for being an ass."

"Tez…" Iruka started with a warning in his voice. She rolled her eyes and pulled him down into a forceful hug. She was very strong for being so little.

"It's nice to finally see what you look like," Tez said into his ear just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yeah," Iruka agreed, hugging her back. He was surprised to feel how squishy she was. He almost expected her muscles to be so firm as to harden her body, not to soften and smoosh in like every other girl he knew (except Anko). She was real.

Tez pulled away and walked up to Kakashi, poking the taller man in the chest just level with the top of her head. "If you ever hurt Iruka, it will be me you have to contend with," she said. Kakashi stiffened at the threat until Tez grabbed him around his waist and squeezed, giving the man a hug. "But until then, it's nice to know that the two of you are good for each other."

The next thing Iruka knew, Tez had swooned and started to fall to the floor, her small reserve of energy completely spent. Kakashi had grabbed her before she hit the floor and picked her up, carrying her down the hall to an empty bed where Sakura could start looking the small woman over for injuries.


	14. Chapter 13

_Chapter Thirteen_

Tez awoke with a head that felt like it was stuffed with cotton and limbs so heavy they could have been made from lead. The natural light filtering into her hospital room was blinding to her sensitive eyes, but she didn't have the power reserves to close the drapes even from this short distance. She should have been sleeping. After that much magic drain she usually managed to sleep for over eight hours, but only about four had passed.

Then she became aware of the commotion by the door. She turned in time to see Iruka making his way past the masked guards by her doorway and approached her bed carrying what appeared to be a steaming mug. He held it up to her lips for her to sip up some of that horrid milk and honey mixture she'd made him learn all those months ago. She drank it all down grudgingly but didn't bother to hide her look of disgust.

"I don't really make it that badly, do I?" Iruka asked with a chuckle.

"Its fine," Tez replied as she settled back into her bed. "I just don't like the taste of milk."

"Oh. How are you feeling?" he asked as he set the empty mug down on the bedside table. His eyes traveled around the room, taking in the empty I.V. stand that stood by the bed and the table that was bare of gifts or trinkets typically given to hospital patients. Of course, nobody knew her except for Iruka, Naruto, and Sasuke, and he was certain that nobody had told Sasuke of her arrival. It still saddened him to notice that no one else had brought her any greeting cards. Of course, he hadn't brought her one, either.

Tez smiled and closed her eyes to block out the light. "I'm considering myself lucky that my hearing spell and my anti-levitation curse are intact. Sometimes I drain myself too much and I'm stuck in my own silent Hell until my power regenerates enough for me to re-power the spells." Then she turned her head toward Iruka and smiled at him without opening her eyes. "But I can't tell you how much it means to me that you and your people are taking care of me. That Sakura girl Naruto told me about donated some of her chakra to me, didn't she?"

"She and six other healers," Iruka confirmed with a wry smirk. He'd just been released from four hours of debriefing by Ibiki. Sakura had looked like hell when she'd bitched to him about her tricky new patient. "You just about drained them and still didn't wake up. They summoned me to ask about you because they thought you were dying, so I told them about the vastness of your chakra reserves."

"Did you tell them what I am?" she asked. Even though her eyes were closed Iruka felt that she was watching him. He could feel the light haze of her chakra floating around in the room and wondered if she was using it to see him as she'd been trying to train him to do. He still hadn't mastered that particular skill, but he was good enough at it that he could get by if necessary.

"I told them that you're magic is like our chakra, but you use it differently than we do. They had a lot of questions about it, but I couldn't answer all of them."

"I suppose I could answer their questions when I can sit up," Tez muttered more to herself than to Iruka. "Although I doubt they'll ever meet anyone else like me."

Iruka chuckled and said, "You are one of a kind, Sensei!"

"No, I'm one of two of a kind," Tez said as there was a gentle knock on the door. Kakashi was leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed casually over his chest.

"How is she?" he asked Iruka.

"I'm fine," Tez said with a smirk. "You aren't rid of me yet. I'll need to fully recover before I can get out of your hair."

Kakashi shook his head and raised his hand in a halting motion. "You're fine. We – and by 'we' I mean the Elders and a few Clan leaders – had you summoned to help us with a problem. I assume you'll hear us out before you decide to return home?"

Tez's face didn't change one iota as she studied Kakashi from her lying-down position on the bed. Her eyes were open and serious, as if she was seriously thinking about what Kakashi had suggested. "To be honest, I don't want to," she said. "I don't expect any respect as Iruka's teacher, since I'm not even a ninja of this village or this world, but I expect the respect due to my position from home since that's the reason why you rudely summoned me here without first contacting me to request my presence. Your Elders are assholes, and frankly I'm seriously disinclined to help them tie their shoes let alone save their political asses."

Kakashi's eye widened in surprise, and Iruka wondered if his lover had been expecting a serious response. After a brief moment – only about one nanosecond had passed – Kakashi's eye closed and the man smiled. "My sentiments exactly," he said. "Would it make a difference if I asked if you please would be gracious enough to help me make a plan of action concerning the Village Hidden in Mist?"

Tez nodded in agreement. "You like me better now that I look like a girl, don't you?" she teased.

"Maa, I suppose I do," Kakashi admitted lightly with a small shrug. "It also gives me a sense of power over you to know that, for the moment at least, I have power over you, too."

"Kakashi!" Iruka gasped, surprised. "How can you say that to someone?"

"Honestly, Iruka, if he didn't say it, I would have been disappointed," Tez scolded heartily. "It's in line with his personality. He's friendly, happy-go-lucky, and likes to hide things behind random truths for shock value. As his sweetie pie you should be familiar with this already."

Well, that was true. Underneath the underneath and all that, right? Iruka shrugged and let the subject drop.

"By the way, did you have your psychological evaluation?" Tez asked.

Both Iruka and Kakashi froze, refusing to look at one another. Iruka looked down at his hands as he said, "Because I never told anyone about you, I am ineligible for Jounin status until the exam next year. It has been determined that my actions were not criminal since I did not reveal any crucial information to you at any time, however I should have informed my superiors of your existence after I realized that I wasn't crazy and you were… real."

"I'm surprised you aren't being tried for treason," Tez said bluntly, causing Iruka's jaw to drop in surprise. "Most government leaders would have seen it as a betrayal, no matter how unintentional it was. Your Hokage must _love_ you."

"It wasn't _my_ decision," Kakashi said defensively. "The council decided that Iruka had valid reasons for keeping the secret, especially since Ibiki confirmed that he wasn't completely convinced of his sanity until he actually saw you out if his head and lying on the floor."

"Well, I do seem to loll on the floor a lot. Hell weeks are Hell, you know?" She smiled and muscled her way up into a sitting position to stretch. Her back popped and she lowered her arms back down to the bed. "So, I suppose I should get some more rest pretty soon."

Iruka stood, taking the hint. "I'll be back in a few hours with something to eat."

"All right," Tez said as she rolled over onto her side. She flipped back over to face the other immediately, though. "Um, but bring enough to feed a couple Naruto's, though. My metabolism's going to skyrocket and I'll need the sustenance to supply my drained reserves."

"Sure," Iruka said as he leaned over and smoothed Tez's soft hair out of her face. "I'll see you when you wake."

Her eyes closed and he and Kakashi quietly left the room, closing the door behind them. Kakashi led the way back to his office in silence. Once there he set about getting back to work, but Iruka leaned over his Hokage's desk with his hand resting on the paper Kakashi was trying to read. "Honestly, I'm surprised I'm getting off so lightly on the Treason charge, too," he said seriously. "Are you being honest when you said you didn't have anything to do with it?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and dropped his pen. He'd been over this already with the council as well as Ibiki. "You have a different job as punishment, alright? That's what the council actually said. Are you happy now?"

Iruka backed off, but kept his voice strong. "What's the job?"

"Keep Tez happy," Kakashi said. "Keep her company and give her a bed in your house. The council thinks that if you give her the royal treatment she'll be more likely to destroy Mist for us."

Clearly they didn't know Tez at all! "And what do you think?" Iruka demanded.

"I think the Council needs to get their pride under control and apologize," Kakashi muttered, picking up his papers again and rifling through them. To Iruka he said, "Ultimately, I think Tez is a good person who, if we give her the respect she deserves as an important person on her planet…"

"She's Chief Sage," Iruka interrupted. "She's also a queen, a matriarch, and a defender of her people. But I don't think she wants respect because of any of that, since it all makes no difference here."

"Then why should we respect her?" Kakashi demanded. Anger was seeping into his voice and he was clearly struggling to keep calm. "She wasn't honest with me about her identity any of the times I'd met her over the past half year! She was only honest with you, Sasuke, and Naruto! Then you three didn't see fit to tell me a single thing, preferring to keep her as your dirty little secret. Legally, I'm justified in throwing both you and Naruto in prison and executing Sasuke on the spot. You're very _lucky_ that I've decided to give the three of you another chance!"

Kakashi was right, of course. Iruka had behaved rashly and he had been nothing but lucky. He'd been lucky that Tez had been honest with him from the beginning. He'd been lucky that Tez had only taken advantage of him once, and even on that occasion – the time she'd taken over his body when he slept – had done what was best for Iruka and not betrayed him. He'd been lucky that she was willing to train him and beyond lucky that when her presence had been completely revealed that no harm or punishment had come to anyone involved.

Iruka looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sama. I will never keep anything from you again."

Kakashi smiled and went back to reading his papers. "I'm sure everything will work out fine. We'll have a few days before our problems with Mist reach a peak. We have a few options until then, so maybe we won't even need your friend." He didn't sound too convinced, though Iruka doubted that anyone who didn't know him would have realized it.

"Things aren't that bad, are they?" Iruka asked. "Based on the mission reports and dispatched I've seen our forces are enough to handle Mist in a battle."

"True," Kakashi said calmly as he read a report. "We are far more powerful than Mist overall, but since such a large number of our forces are currently deployed out to Sound right now or out on missions, the Hidden Mist has a slight advantage over us. I'd rather not have to recall our forces, but I will if Tez continues to refuse to help us." He set down the report and signed it before moving on, making it clear he had nothing more to say.

With that offhand dismissal Iruka went over to his desk and sat down, thinking. Tez was ultimately a nice person. She hid it behind a tough façade, but if her stories were to be believed she would sacrifice herself for her friends even if they didn't ask her. She'd told him how her friend Juan had been raped and brought back to a My Dance Troupe rehearsal by his rapist. She'd figured out that the man carrying her dear friend was the one who hurt him and she had been so enraged that she almost killed him right there. At the last minute she'd scared the guy so badly that, of his own accord, he'd moved across the country just to get away from her.

Juan still didn't know what she had done exactly, but he knew that he was safe. She'd taken him into her home and healed him, supporting the poor man through his entire psychological recovery. She'd done it completely of her own volition and for no other reason than because she wanted to.

But did she like Iruka enough to help them? She wasn't affectionate toward him, or anyone else she'd met in Konoha for that matter. She'd reacted so violently for Juan because he'd basically become part of her family already and sex crimes hit particularly close to her heart for some unknown reason, although Iruka suspect that she'd been raped when she was younger. Was eight months enough time to create a bond strong enough that Tez would be willing to risk herself for him? She risked herself for strangers all the time, but that was for her various jobs.

Maybe he could ask her nicely? She did respond to requests better than demands. Would the request have to come from him or Kakashi, though? Maybe she'd be receptive to the idea if it came from both of them? The council couldn't be involved, though. The elders – or, more accurately the elders' attitudes – repulsed her enough to make her drain one of them to near death so she could get a message to her loved ones. It seemed petty to Iruka, but he wasn't Tez.

"What are you thinking?" Kakashi asked from directly behind Iruka. "You've been lost in thought for nearly a half hour."

"I've been thinking about how we can get Tez to help us," Iruka admitted. "I think that if you and I go visit her later and ask politely, she'll probably agree."

Kakashi bent down and kissed Iruka's ear softly. "Then that's what we'll do," he murmured before taking Iruka's ear into his mouth and nibbling on it.

Iruka groaned; all thoughts flying out of his head as Kakashi slowly started working on his ear. "Mmmm…. If we do any more of this then we're going to need to go home," he murmured.

"Okay."

With that, they teleported back to Iruka's apartment to continue their fun.


	15. Chapter 14

_Chapter Fourteen_

Tez ate a whole pot of stew that first time Iruka brought her food. The next day she'd been released from the hospital and had eaten three times more than Kakashi, Iruka, Naruto, and Sasuke combined at the Ichiraku ramen stand. The third day Iruka had demanded that Tez pay for her own meals, to which she had smiled and thanked him for his tolerance thus far. Then she reminded him that he had not needed to pay her for any of the special lessons she'd given him. He told her that his training had given her the opportunity to practice the things she'd been set to train, to which she had promptly responded that she hadn't needed his permission to be there and would have trained with or without their arrangement. So he offered to take her out to the barbeque restaurant.

Besides, she didn't have any local currency.

She didn't sleep much after she woke up the second time. She had slept only two hours that first night at Iruka's, but not a minute more since then. It had been three days, and she hadn't slept a wink! At least, not that he was aware of. She didn't advertise her sleeping habits, but when Iruka had gone to bed with a pigsty for an apartment one night and awoke to a neat and sparkly clean apartment the next morning, he realized that she had been so bored she had cleaned everything. Obviously she hadn't slept all night.

She was an amazing teacher, surprisingly enough. Iruka had brought her to his academy class on the second day when she seemed to have recuperated enough to deal with hyperactive little ninja wannabes. And she was practically climbing the walls of his apartment for want of something to do. She kept the kids engaged in their lesson – kunai throwing – and even demonstrated some decorative juggling using her long knives (or were they short swords?) before turning the demonstration into an attack and nearly "killed" the most enthusiastic student. She then proceeded to lean over him and intimidated him into not trying her art until he was a full Genin and had an adult's supervision.

Then she'd proceeded to take Iruka out to lunch, although Iruka had to pay for it. She didn't have any money they could use in Konoha and Kakashi had refused to open the village coffer to give her an allowance. He did, however, offer to allow her to join a Genin team of three temporarily and work on D-rank missions for the fee. So the third day she spent cleaning the house of an elderly civilian woman. Tez had come back early, having gotten so frustrated with the filthy state of the lady's house she had cleaned the whole thing with a single spell.

She'd come home fuming and threw her shoes back at the door, where they landed with a soft thud. "I found rat droppings all over the place!" she announced without preamble. "That old biddy had priceless antique books stacked on the floor surrounded by rat scat and piss, and on the bookshelves she had empty soda cans and candy wrappers! At least the trash should have been on the floor and the books should have been on the shelves! How stupid could a woman get? Then, she complained of being sick, but she didn't…. UGH!"

Tez dropped into a seat next to Sasuke and accepted the teacup he offered her. "I used a spell to get the trash and shit and I purified the books. Then I went into the bathroom to help that little kid Konohameru with the gross that had collected there. I wouldn't even let him touch the toilet for fear he'd pick up some incurable disease. He was hyperactive and scatterbrained, but even he and his pranks didn't deserve that! I felt glad that their third teammate was sick so he didn't have to touch that ick."

"It sounds pretty bad," Iruka said sympathetically. "Every Genin team is assigned to Lady Kaka's House of Shit at least once before they take their Chunin exam. Think of it as hazing and hope you won't have to do it again."

Tez snorted. "Is that really her name?"

Iruka smiled before taking a sip of tea. "No, it's just what everyone calls her. Her name is Kaede Kanazawa, which shortens to Kaka. Her house has been a mess since Kakashi was a Genin. He was actually the first Genin team to be assigned her house."

"I'll bet her file in the records room is huge," Sasuke said between sips of tea.

Iruka nodded tragic affirmation. "She gets her house cleaned thrice a year every year for the past twenty years. The folder is a foot thick."

Tez groaned and hit her head on the table she fell forward so fast. "That was only four month's worth of mess?" she asked, sounding depressed with her face buried in the wood. "I can't imagine if she let it go for another two months let alone a year! Does she not know how to pick up a broom? Or a dishrag? Or a feather duster? Or a…"

As Tez continued her ramblings, listing off various house cleaning items and pieces of equipment – some of which Iruka didn't recognize – there was a gentle knock on Iruka's door. He got up to answer it, not at all surprised to see Nara Shikamaru standing at the door wearing a white ANBU mask and uniform.

"What's up?" Iruka asked with a straight posture, pretending he didn't know who was standing before him. Shikamaru was, surprisingly, standing up straight and strong, and when he spoke he didn't complain once, which was nice.

"The Hokage orders that Umino Iruka, Uchiha Sasuke, and Heidenberg Tez report to his office immediately."

"Yes," Iruka said simply before Shikamaru disappeared in a teleportation jutsu. Tez was still bent over the table, but had stopped talking a while back. Sasuke was simply looking at Iruka with hollow eyes. "You heard him," Iruka said as he stepped into his blue sandals. "Our Hokage has called for us."

Sasuke walked over to the entryway and slipped his shoes on as well. Tez only sat up in her seat and gulped down some tea before all three of them performed teleportation jutsu (or, in Tez's case, a translocation spell) to pop over to the hallway in front of Kakashi's double doors. Iruka knocked and another ANBU let them into the office.

The Hokage's office was a fairly spacious room normally with a second, smaller desk off to one side where Iruka or Kakashi's other assistant usually sat during regular business hours. As the trio walked in, however, they noticed that there was absolutely no place to stand. The room was filled to the brim with ANBU soldiers with only a few elite Jounins' heads popping out in the crowd of white masks. Iruka sensed most of his Jounin friends in the crowd using his chakra to sense their patterns, but the room was too crowded for him to actually spot them. He couldn't even see who was standing a few feet away let alone across the room where Raido and Genma stood.

"What are we doing here?" Tez asked casually from just outside the doorway. "Aren't the masked guys those super-elite ANBU warriors? And I recognize the people with faces not hidden by masks as high-ranking Jounins, but you are still a Chunin. Sasuke is still a Genin, and I'm a freaking stranger."

"I don't know," Iruka hissed over his shoulder. They were attracting some attention, so Iruka looked at her over his shoulder. "Come on in so we can close the door."

Tez looked around the packed room before stepping inside and floating up to the ceiling just above the doorway. The doors swung shut of their own accord after her, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Tez kept her face schooled in a calmly blank expression as she crossed her legs into the meditation pose beneath her floating form and waited. It wasn't long before Kakashi entered from the side room and the soft chatter of the room stilled.

"I have called you all here," he said to the room, his eyes locked on Tez's floating body, "to inform you that the Hidden Mist Village has begun its attack on Konohagure. Scouts have confirmed that thousands of Mist troops are on their way, and we expect them here within the hour. Everyone here has been assigned a troop to lead, which have been written down on these scrolls. You are each to assemble your teams and stand ready at your assigned posts. I have another plan ready, so there is a possibility that some of your assignments may change, but none of you are to leave your posts until you are given permission to leave."

Everyone started murmuring – this was obviously very unusual behavior for the Hokage. Tez understood what his plan was, though. He'd come to visit her with Iruka at his heels just before she'd been released from the hospital. He had apologized for the behavior of his council and had asked if she would please help him defend Konoha as much as she was able while she was still here. He had been polite, genuine, and – most importantly to Tez – he'd been himself. She'd agreed with a smile.

As the ninjas collected their scrolls and made their way out of the Hokage's office, Tez lowered herself back down to the floor. The Shinobi and Kunoichi of Konoha skirted around her warily. Some watched her as they passed, yet others avoided eye contact with her, preferring to watch the ground as they hurried past. Tez couldn't really blame them. She was able to do things they couldn't and people like that were often regarded with fear.

Once everyone else had left, Iruka made his way up to the desk. All of the assignment scrolls had been handed out, leaving the desk completely barren for the first time since Kakashi had first started working there. "What shall we do, Kakashi-sama?"

Kakashi's eyes sought Tez's, and the young woman nodded her assent. "Tez has agreed to help us while she's here," he said lightly. He turned his overly bright smile toward Tez. "What would you like for us to do?"

Tez smiled a little too brightly. "What exactly would you like me to accomplish?" she returned. "I could easily kill everyone who is on their way over, or I can knock them all out. There are serious ramifications from either tactic, though."

Obviously, keeping so many soldiers alive posed a serious threat. They wouldn't be able to keep them all locked up; there just wasn't room and it was costly to feed them. Plus, the troops would be able to regroup and attack again later. However, killing a thousand people was unimaginable. Tez was a nice girl, but he wouldn't wish that kind of weight on her shoulders at all! That is, assuming she actually could kill them all on her own.

"What, you don't have a third option?" Kakashi asked, his tone indicating that he believed otherwise.

"I do," Tez confirmed. "The question is: how good are your hostage-negotiating skills?"

* * *

><p>"Everything's ready," Sasuke panted as he, Iruka, and Tez came running through Konoha's front gates. They'd spent the majority of an hour spreading the seeds for a plan out in the forest as fast as they could. Sasuke, who hadn't had nearly the amount of training with Tez that Iruka had, had been winded by the beyond-breakneck pace. Iruka had managed to keep up, but Tez waltzed through the gate as if they had been out on a stroll instead of trying to cover a few hundred square miles of ground in forty minutes.<p>

She leapt up to the platform above the gates as if it were nothing and squatted down, dangling one foot over the edge. She had removed the squadrons who had been posted in front of Konoha and moved them around to the outside perimeter at the village's sides. She'd had them leave shadow clones of themselves behind so the enemies wouldn't be put off by the lack of resistance, and she had fortified the clones so to the hunting ninja they felt like real people, but she made certain that all living people were behind the barrier Iruka and Sasuke had just helped her to construct.

Kakashi had contacted every team leader and moved everyone into position, explaining the new game plan. He'd sent people out to create specific traps that Tez had requested be set in exact locations. He had been very precise with his orders and they had been followed to the letter. Everyone was ready. With just a few more minor adjustments the only thing left was for the enemy to put the plan into action.

Suddenly the wind seemed to hush and Tez sprinkled something brown and gritty into a thick row directly in front of the gates. Then, with a two-fingered signal of warning she shut the gates and the brown row was gone, covered up by a thin layer of dirt. The city was sealed. All they could do was wait.

It didn't take long, maybe ten minutes, before Iruka could sense the first traces of chakra in the distance as the Mist ninjas set off the traps that had been ordered. Then there was the sound of steel clashing in a deadly battle before the smell of blood wafted in on an unnatural breeze. Then stillness reigned supreme.

Iruka could feel the ninja in the trees to either side of the road leading out of Konoha. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were there. He and Sasuke joined Tez above the doors, both standing sentinel to either side of the petit woman. After a few minutes she called out, "Do you surrender, Warriors of Mist?"

"Attack!" came the excited shout, and all of the ninja started running at the gates.

Tez just shook her head reluctantly as she stood. Her eyes closed and her hands lifted out and away from her body, almost as if she were about to catch a child who was running to her. A pattern of green light appeared on the ground, twisting this way and that. The attacking ninjas, seeing the light, stopped their attack. Then the ground under the lighted pattern began to glow blue – the same color as Tez's magic. With a twist in the air and a sudden intake of breath Tez's arms raised up above her head, this time held out as if asking for a taller person to give her a hug.

As Tez's arms rose, plants sprang up from the ground. Roses, briars, and vines grew so thickly there was no room for their stems to grow, so they wove about one another in a weave so intricate that it looked natural. Had Tez not informed Iruka of the pattern and her intent, he never would have noticed it. As it was, he saw the half-circle barrier rise from the ground before the village gates, reaching above the tree line and meeting the other half of the huge circle that Sasuke and Iruka had laid out in the forest and disguised.

"Are you certain that you will not surrender?" Tez called out to the trapped army below, her arms relaxing down to her sides. Her voice carried despite the ease with which she spoke, and although every word could be heard her voice did not sound strained in the least.

The Kunoichi in the front glared up at Tez. "I would rather die than surrender to the likes of you!"

"Would you prefer to surrender to the Hokage?" Tez asked simply.

"We will not surrender to Konoha!" the Kunoichi reiterated. "You are weak and undeserving of the status you hold!"

"Oh, well, if that's all…" Tez let her sentence dangle as she raised her arms back to their previous position and brought her hands together, lacing her fingers just as the plants below arched over the heads of the Mist ninjas and wove together so tightly it was impossible to see where one set of plants ended and another set began. Tez dropped her hands and lowered her head in concentration as another pattern, this time in red, wove itself above the dome of foliage and lowered itself, sinking into the plants. Now the plants were strong as steel: none of the ninjas could burn or cut their way out. After the new pattern had disappeared Tez raised her head.

This, of course, had not captured the entire enemy, but only a fraction of the army. The sounds of fighting could be heard outside the village walls, and it was anybody's guess who was winning. Tez made the two-fingered signal again and Iruka quickly spoke into the earpiece of his radio: "All units fall back. Repeat, all units fall back."

Iruka couldn't see the results of what Tez was doing, but she had told him what she had planned. Iruka and Sasuke had hauled several huge loads of dirt outside the walls and had spread it around as close to the walls as they could. The village was too large for Tez to reach the entirety of it with her magic, but what with the carefully designed traps directing the oncoming ninja, she had manipulated them into only attacking Konoha by the front and right side, leaving most of the attacking line within her magical range. She only had to run to the wall outside the Hokage Tower in order to be able to respond to the next group of attackers.

Tez had disappeared to the appointed section of wall and gathered the dirt into large walls four times higher than the one she was standing on. She then compressed the dirt, making it as hard as stone and only half the size of Konoha's wall. Then, using a great force of power, she thrust the wall out, taking out as many enemy ninja as she could within three miles to either side.

Of course, the ninja still hidden in the distant tree line remained unhurt, but few had been able to resist the Shinobi placed strategically to draw them out into the open. It was a shame, since now they were greatly outnumbered by the Konoha ninja who swarmed over the wall.

As Iruka, Sasuke, and Kakashi caught up with Tez, they saw her sway in the breeze, almost as if she were dancing to music only she could hear. Her chin was lifted to the afternoon sun and her arms were raised as if welcoming the warmth. Then, without warning, her legs turned boneless and she fell forward, off the wall and toward the fighting! Iruka leapt forward in the hope that he could catch her, but he was far too late. She was halfway to the ground when he stood over her, watching as a pair of shiny clear leather wings spread from her back and tuned her fall into a dive. She just managed to pull out of it in time to skim the ground instead of crashing into it.

Her descent had gained her the speed to rocket into the forest, her wings pulled in slightly so they wouldn't brush against the trees. As she blasted through the fauna, Tez flung out strings of power and attached them to the enemy ninja. Then she proceeded to drag them until they were too bloody and broken to get up again anytime soon. She dropped them in a pile and glided up and out of the trees, sweeping back for another pass through at a different location further down the line.

After a few more passes the Mist ninjas were onto Tez's plan. One shinobi in particular, a big guy with big muscles and a big strong jaw, jumped out in front of Tez as she plowed past. He grabbed her shoulders and used his chakra to stop her momentum completely.

So she punched him. She had more strength than he did despite her small size.

Then she started running from opponent to opponent, punching their lights out with a single punch one by one. Some died. More survived. She never once, since she trapped the first group in her plants, opened her eyes.

Iruka, on the other hand, had jumped off the wall and slowly followed Tez into the trees. He didn't bother trying to keep up with her and turned off the beaten track. He took in the scene of who was fighting and who was winning. Most of the fights seemed fairly evenly matched, but poor Genma and Raido were pinned down in a tree by five ninja with very high chakra levels. The Konoha ninjas were barely able to defend themselves let alone go on the attack.

Iruka pulled his chakra into his little internal box and sealed it shut, but left it open just enough to draw chakra down to his feet. Then he ran back toward the village a little ways where the path was clear and walked up a tree far enough away that the enemy wouldn't detect him. He stealthily made his way back toward Genma and Raido, setting chakra wires in strategic places.

Using a bird call, Iruka distracted one of the enemy ninja just enough that Genma managed to put a kunai in his heart. While the other four renewed their onslaught of attacks, Iruka moved around his trap and placed himself on the opposite side of the group in the tree next to theirs. His hands flashed in a very familiar jutsu, and a shadow clone of the Kyuubi flew at the group from behind Iruka, the flames of its tails real enough to scorch the trees. He grabbed his friends to keep them from fleeing as the other four ran into the chakra wire, slicing their heads clean off their shoulders.

"Iruka?" Raido gasped. "You did that?"

"Who cares," Genma said with eyes wide as saucers. "He saved our asses."

Without another word the three split up and picked other fights, slowly helping their comrades to push the enemy army deeper into the trees.

But where was Kakashi in all of this? Iruka hadn't seen his lover since Tez had laid out her plan and sent everyone out to prepare. Iruka and Sasuke had run out of the room to gather as many seeds as they could find from as many of the flower and landscaping shops around town as they could before Tez had finished describing her entire plan to Kakashi. Kakashi had briefed the ANBU and Jounin captains, but Iruka hadn't been around for that.

Kakashi sat on top of the Hokage monument, right on top of the Fourth Hokage's head, and watched the battle unfold. Everything was happening exactly as Tez had said it would, down to the way the individual fights slowly pushed the enemy back. It was almost time for Kakashi to play his part in the little performance, but he hadn't yet received a message from Tez signaling that she was ready for him.

He looked down at the little blue ball of light in his left hand. It felt like a glass paperweight and was about the same size and shape, but it glowed and made his hand tingle. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it had taken him a while to get used to it.

In his right hand he held a small wooden flute. Once the other two had left and Kakashi had sent his orders out to his commanders in the field, Tez had pressed the flute and ball into the palm of his hand saying, "When you hear my voice coming from this mage globe, I want you to make your way to the top of the Hokage Tower and wait until all eyes are on you. Play the flute, putting down one finger over each hole one at a time starting at the top until your fingers cover all the holes at the same time. Then hold on and don't fall."

He wondered what she was going to do. What would he have to hold on to, and why?

The battle had seemed to reach a standstill. Both sides seemed to neither gain nor lose ground, but the forest seemed to be losing more and more trees. Just then Tez's voice came from the little trinket. "Kakashi, get to your position immediately, please."

That was his cue. He performed the teleportation jutsu and was on the Hokage Tower's highest point in an instant. The air seemed to hush and grow heavy, pressing on the battlefield as Tez broke from the forest canopy and shot toward Kakashi on gossamer wings that beat so fast they were just a blur. She landed before him easily, drawing the attention of all shinobi present in her wake. Without the enemy noticing, all of the Konoha shinobi made for the village, jumping over the wall as their enemy stood magically enthralled by the scene above.

Kakashi brought the flute to his lips and blew, laying down all of his fingers over the small holes one at a time just as she had instructed. The high pitch lowered with each note, and the music – such that it was – rang clearly over the forest. He watched as the space before him seemed to tear, just as it had when Tez had sent her note over to her world. This time, though, Tez reached through the rip in time and space and pulled, bringing a huge dragon through the rip. And Kakashi had to hang onto the roof because the wind from the dragon's huge wings carrying its enormous body gracefully through the air nearly blew Kakashi off of the building.

Tez turned back toward Kakashi and pulled him back to his feet. Her black hair was a windswept mess over her head and her eyes flashed with excitement. She was truly at home with her magic. She was magic. Now, with her bonded one flying around and frightening everyone in the forest, she was simply invincible.


	16. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

Tez stared at Ag-Coern, the dragon who was her bonded one, who she had pulled through the void into Iruka's reality, and who she was currently receiving training assignments from.

He'd finished off the Mist ninja in short order. Many of the enemy ran for their lives back home for fear of being incinerated by a rampaging dragon. They had been shortly followed by a messenger bird detailing the battle, and promising the safe return of the hostages and wounded when Mist signed a treaty. Emissaries had been sent for negotiation until an acceptable arrangement had been reached.

Tez hadn't been around for most of that, though. Ag-Coern had dragged her back home immediately, claiming that her children were worried for her. Once they were back in their world he had checked her over for any injuries – of which there were only a few bruises – and demanded to learn everything that had happened. Her note hadn't given nearly enough detail.

Then her family had barged into the room – the impatient mob – and she'd had to repeat everything. Then they'd all yelled at her, and she kicked them all out. Only her kids were allowed to remain, and they had proceeded to ignore her for the rest of the night as punishment, even going so far as to stay at the eldest's apartment across the hall. She dealt with it, but then the next night she took them out to breakfast. Well, boys will be boys, and oftentimes their stomachs speak louder than their brains.

This brought them back to the present. It was the first time Tez had seen him in over a month. She'd visited Iruka a few times, but she had stopped training him, for a while at least. She simply couldn't afford that much time to devote to him anymore. And Aggie wanted to continue with their training sessions.

"What do you mean I have to do the exercise all over again?" Tez demanded.

"You have made an easy-to-follow pathway to that dimension, but you'll need more than a single safe place when you finally face your true enemy. That was one version of that anime your son enjoys called Naruto. Find another one. There are lots of books and cartoons to give you ideas on where to look! You can't just leap out at random and hope to find a world where you can easily fit yourself. You aren't that lucky."

Tez got what he was saying. It would be better to be able to search through all of the other dimensions and find the one she needed. If she needed a place to give a friend a new arm, it would make sense to find a reality that had automail, the Fullmatal Alchemist or had mechanical limbs like I Robot. It would also be nice to be able to see the people she knew from past involuntary ventures into alternate realities. But first she would need to learn how to find what she was looking for.

"Fine. Where do you want me to go next?" she demanded of her teacher.

He smiled behind his long silver beard. "There is this anime called Death Note…"


End file.
